A Crack in the Glass, Shatters the Past
by CelticPagan-3
Summary: After the final battle Hermione turns away from the wizarding world, why? After years hiding in the muggle world Harry tracks her down and tries to convince her to return, will he succeed? H/Hr pairing, EWE, drama, romance & a little bit of fluff.
1. Prologue

**A Crack in the Glass, Shatters the Past**

_DISCLAIMER: All characters are from the imagination of JK Rowling...I own nothing except the plot_

~ **Prologue** ~

It had been ten years since the war, and in those ten years she had built an entire new life – a new home, a new name, even a new past: she was a new person now. But no matter how submerged in this new life she was, her wizarding past would always come back to haunt her: in her solitary hours when books could no longer distract her; in those brief moments at work when business was a little slow and her mind had time to wander, it would always wander to the past. As the years went by, she got a better handle on the memories, her mind wandered back to them less and less; she could now go a full day without thinking of those times once, but she could always count on her dreams to remind her.

Ten years ago, although the war with Voldemort was reaching it's climax, and everywhere she turned she was met with hysteria, panic and chaos, she had never in fact been happier. In the middle of the terror she had found something amazingly beautiful, she found love, with one of her best friends. It had taken her and Ron a little over six years to finally out their feelings for one another, but the emotional impact of the war, the fear of not knowing if, when you said goodbye, you would ever see someone again, spurned on the lovers to finally acknowledge their feelings.

The bond between Harry, Ron and Hermione had never been stronger, they lived together, they fought together, and the always beleived they would continue to do so. Together.

At the final battle their beliefs were shattered, their lives turned upside down and the Weasley family was torn apart by the death of two of their sons. Fred and Ron lost their lives moments before Harry dealt Voldemort that fatal blow, and in those seconds, Hermione's future that she once dreamed of was now unalterably and brutally taken away.

Hermione spent days trying to come to terms with the loss, alone except for Harry, whose constant company kept her sane through her grief. Her other comfort came from knowing that now the war was over her parents could return. A surviving member of the order had already taken up the task of searching for, bringing back and restoring the memories of Mr and Mrs Granger, as Hermione's physical, as well as emotional, state was too fragile to take up the task immediately after the war was over.

Fred and Ron's funeral was to take place in the week following their premature deaths. It was also coming to the time that Hermione was expecting to hear of the return, or even see her parents. Each morning brought anxious butterflies to her stomach as she descended the stairs at The Burrow, into the kitchen, anticipating an owl with news of her parents' welfare, secretly hoping to see them both standing right there in front of her.

The day of the funeral arrived, a private ceremony comprised of family and close friends only, took place. Both boys were buried in the orchard, where the boys spent most of their time playing Quidditch during the summer. After the ceremony, the afternoon was spent by everyone slowly becoming intoxicated with the plentiful supply of firewhiskey and Madame Rosmerta's finest mead, and reminiscing of the past adventures and numerous misdemeanours of the two Weasley boys gone forever.

It was during this very evening, that Hermione's world was once again turned upside down. The order member returned, alone, and seeking out Hermione, told her of her parents' fate. Constant apologies flowed from his mouth as he tried to say what needed to be said. Hermione's parents, despite the strenuous designs to which Hermione went to conceal them form danger, were two of the last unsuspecting victims of the Death Eater's wrath. To add insult to such an injury, it was clear that their deaths had nothing to do with interrogation purposes; it seemed apparent that the Death Eaters responsible had no idea who the couple actually was: their murders were just for amusement.

It was that day that Hermione said goodbye to the wizarding world, she turned her back on her past, and created a new one, a new life, became a new person. No longer did she want to be part of a world that had taken away so much, and caused so much pain.


	2. Chapter 1  A New Life

~ **Chapter ****1**** – ****A ****New ****Life **~

This is now Hermione's life, the life she would have made for herself if she had never got her Hogwarts letter all those years ago:

No longer Hermione Granger, with the big bushy brown hair; she was now Jennifer Parker, the large curls had been replaced with straight, long, caramel-coloured locks (Muggle substitutes for magic were often less than impressive compared to the Wizarding way, but hair straighteners were an ingenious exception). She was now living in a small coastal village, where she owned a small cafe, complete with a library-come-bookshop at one side of the small establishment – something she had dreamed of running when she was a young girl, long before she discovered she was a witch.

Robin Hood's Bay was a small Yorkshire village on the east coast of England, and had always been Hermione's favourite holiday place ever since she was a child; somewhere she had always dreamed of someday settling there, starting up her own business. She had wanted a complete clean break from everything that had contributed tor her parents', and Ron's, death, and this was the perfect opportunity.

Over the ten years, Hermione, or as she is now known: Jennifer, had become fully integrated into the community: everybody knew her, everybody loved her, even summer regulars saw her as a friend they must visit upon their arrival into the Bay. For ten years Jennifer lived as if magic didn't exist, happily immersed in everyday Muggle life; but however much one denies, however much one ignores the painful memories of the past, they will never completely disappear. For that which does not want to be hidden shall always find a way to appear.

With the cleaning finished, the store locked up and everything ready for opening the next day, Jennifer entered the apartment above her beloved store, thinking about taking a long, very well deserved, hot bath. As she reached the hallway of her home, Crookshanks (feeling somewhat neglected, as today had been extremely busy, leaving Jennifer no time to attend to his idle want for attention) ran to Jennifer's side and began constantly curling around her ankles mewing softly.

"I'm sorry Crookshanks, it's midsummer, you know how busy we get. And look at the time! You must be starving." A certain style of 'mew' signalled Crookshanks' agreement.

"Well, lets get you some dinner then, and something for myself come to think of it" she added as her stomach gave a particularly loud growl.

Crookshanks, instead of going to the kitchen as he usually did, made his way into Hermione's bedroom, to the wall length mirror hung at one end, and began scratching, loud enough to be heard from the other room; this odd behaviour had been getting more frequent these past few weeks.

"Crookshanks" Jennifer said with a sigh, hearing from the kitchen, and knowing exactly what the intelligent feline was doing, "how many times? stop that, you're not getting back there. _I'm_ not getting back there. It's sealed for a reason, I'm a Muggle now, so we do things, all things, the Muggle way."

Sometimes, Jennifer missed 'being Hermione' she missed the friends she left behind. And sometimes it's just so much easier to summon things than having to move. She missed the reliability of owl post, (the Muggle post not as efficient as it used to be). But Jennifer's life was definitely a lot less complicated and chaotic; now she had a strict routine, up at 7am, cafe open at 9, a whole day of earning a living and catching up on what little gossip a small village has to offer, then closing up at 6-30 in the evening and getting ready to do the whole thing again. So it had been for nearly ten years, today had been no different, and tomorrow was expected to be the same, as was every day to follow.

What Jennifer didn't know was that the winds were about to change, and her simple existence was going to get just a little more complicated.


	3. Chapter 2  The First Crack

_DISCLAIMER: Characters belong to JK Rowling, I own nothing except the locals :)_

_A/N - Thank you to everyone who has read this piece so far, I hope you are enjoying the piece and will continue to read. Also, a special thank you to my first reviewer - pawsrule - your feedback is highly valued and I hope you will continue to read & review. I know the first two chapters were rather short, but this one will be longer, as will the rest that follow._

_Quick recap - Hermione has left behind the magical world, and has created a new identity (Jennifer) in the Muggle world - she will therefore be referred to as Jennifer in the beginning of the chapter._

_And now, read & enjoy_

_xBx_

~ **Chapter****2:****The****First****Crack**~

Jennifer hadn't had the best nights sleep; Crookshanks had been unusually restless, waking her many times through the night, each time wanting to get her to the mirror. When morning came, a somewhat sleepy Jennifer begrudgingly left her bed, hoping a hot shower would make her feel slightly more human and alive. Crookshanks, still full of life, was still adamantly scratching at the mirror,

"Crookshanks, what is wrong with you? Why do want to get back there so desperately all of a sudden. And" she added, on closer inspection of the mirror "you've cracked it! How on earth did you do that?" the only response she received was a look of innocence that didn't fool her for one second.

"Someone's getting half their usual portion for breakfast this morning" Jennifer muttered on her way to the bathroom, then turning to her cat added "and it won't be me."

Crookshanks fully understood the comment and went sulking to a corner, glaring at his mistress' back as she left the room.

Fate seemed intent on doing nothing to improve Jennifer's mood throughout the day: the beauty of English weather shone through vigilantly… a torrential downpour of rain never ceased from morning until dusk, coupled with the odd rumble of thunder as well as some bracing sea winds to add to the mood. Not the most enticing weather for the holidaymakers, so it goes without saying that the café was somewhat lacking in customers. Sometimes it was nice when this happened, as it gave Jennifer a perfect opportunity to catch up with the locals, who were too brazened to the harsh weather of the coast to bother about a spot of rain.

"Jenny, why don't you sit down for a while, there's only me here you can't have that much to do" Betsy, the faithful local, who showed up every day, seemed to be the only person who would brave such weather.

"Alright," she sighed, "but only for five minutes, I need to feel like I'm doing something, that I'm actually earning a living" she added, as she took her place at Betsy's table, along with a hot chocolate to cheer her mood.

"You should be thankful for a day of rest, it didn't escape my notice that yesterday was incredibly busy for you, as was the rest of the week, come to think of it"

Jennifer laughed her agreement, "yeah, but I guess it's always like that at this time of year, I don't know how I managed to forget, I've never been so exhausted – thank god for Katie, she was a life-saver yesterday, I don't know how I managed so long without her"

"All the more reason to enjoy the peace while you can" Mothered Betsy, then added smugly "I told you so, and you know I'm always right"

Jennifer smiled and took a sip of her chocolate, expecting it to automatically lift her mood, unfortunately muggle chocolate didn't have the same affect as magical chocolate, and even after ten years, Jennifer still couldn't get used to it. "God, I miss Honeydukes chocolate on days like these" she sighed, without thinking.

"Honeydukes?" Quizzed her companion, who had obviously never heard of the famous sweet store of the magical world.

"Erm, just an old sweet store, I used to love when I was younger, obscure little place in the village I used to live", she mumbled quickly, blushing at her carelessness; '_How __could I __be __so __stupid __to __let __that __slip, god __damn __it__' _thought Jennifer. Luckily, the arrival of an unexpected customer put an end to the awkward explanation and allowed her to thankfully avoid any further questions about her past, which were bound to have arisen.

"Hi there, can I get you anything?" Jennifer asked as she sprang from her seat, not looking properly at the new arrival, and returned with her unfinished drink, to behind the counter. Her question was greeted with silence, while the gentleman stared at her, slowly taking in her appearance, a slight frown forming. Jennifer repeated her question, a little more slowly this time, still not taking in the man's appearance, assuming she had spoken too quickly for him to understand – sometimes she forgot how much of an accent she had developed,

"Can I get you anything? A drink, something to eat?"

"Hermione?"

Her head snapped up in shock and her cheeks flushed with confusion, at being called by a name no one here knew, that no one had ever spoken; she quickly turned to place her cup in the sink, to hide the blatant shock in her eyes and the blush on her cheeks, trying to regain her composure. '_How __does __he __know __me?' _Shoe thought wildly, '_Or __could __it __just __be __a __coincidence?__' _she naively hoped, but as much as she wanted to believe the second thought, she could not get away from the fact that she definitely recognised the voice.

"I..I'm sorry," She stammered, then took a deep breath before turning and continuing with a smile, "You must be thinking of someone else, my name is Jennifer, Jennifer Parker, though most people call me Jenny. Now how about that drink?"

The man approached the counter, and repeated her name, hardly louder than a whisper, "Hermione" this time, less of a question, more of a certainty - He knew it was her, she could change her name, she could change her hair, she could even change her accent, but he would always know her. Always.

She looked up; she couldn't help it, she turned and looked straight into the startling green eyes of the best friend she'd left behind those many years ago and without thinking she breathed out his name in shock,

"Harry?"

In that one moment she forgot where she was, forgot the façade she had worked so hard to uphold, and the lies that she had continued to build up and strengthen around herself over the many years; within seconds they came crashing down, and once again she was Hermione Granger.

"Harry", she repeated, barely more than a whisper, "what are you doing here?"

"I was going to ask you the same question. And I think I have some more important ones to follow..._Jennifer_" he stressed the name, causing Hermione to turn away in pretence of checking something on the till.

The sound of a throat clearing brought Hermione out of her forgotten past and back into her 'Jennifer' façade with a jolt.

"Erm," Betsy awkwardly interrupted, her presence had been completely forgotten by the other two, and Hermione hoped she hadn't heard too much, "I take it you two know each other from a long time ago, and must have lots to catch up on so I'll get going"

"Oh, Betsy, no, don't be silly, you don't have to rush off" Hermione desperately trying to avoid the confrontation she knew was going to come if she was left alone with Harry.

"No, it's fine, I have lots to do anyway before the family get here this evening" Hermione knew Betsy well enough to hear the decided tone of her voice, and knew that she was going to be left alone with Harry, no matter what she said,

"Well, be sure to come down tomorrow," sighed Hermione, admitting defeat, "haven't seen you grandson in a while, it'll be nice to catch up"

"I'll make sure we call by, I've left you're money on the table" with that Betsy left, leaving Harry and Hermione alone for the first time in ten years.

A few moments of awkward silence followed Betsy's departure, finally broken by Hermione,

"So," she said, with a forced air of nonchalance, "are you going to tell me what are you dong here, of all places? Or are you going to stand there silently for a little while longer?" She turned back to the table she recently left, clearing it of the remnants of Betsy's drink, to give her something to do, to avoid Harry's stare.

"Looking for you." Harry stated simply, a slight hint of annoyance tinged his tome causing Hermione to freeze in shock for a few seconds, even after all these years she could hear, better than anyone, the simmering temper that was never far below the surface, "What else would I be doing?" He added quietly,

Finally regaining her speech, Hermione managed to stammer out "How…how did you know where I was?"

"Well I didn't, hence why it's taken me _ten years_ to find you." A hint of exasperation, now added to the tinge of annoyance, which was now more noticeable than before, Hermione braced herself for his hot temper that she felt sure she was about to experience, "I never stopped looking for you, you know?" He continued, "And it didn't help not knowing _why_ you had disappeared in the first place, and whether or not is was of your own free will" Harry paused before continuing, hoping Hermione would explain on her own...apparently Hermione had no such idea in her head, and Harry's statement was followed by more minutes of uncomfortable silence, this time, finally broken by Harry,

"Why the hell did you run off like that?" The words came out louder, and more severe than he had intended, his anger coming quickly to the surface. And though she had expected it from the moment she realised who he was, it still caused Hermione's eyes to flash with anger at being spoken to in such a way. But Harry had kept his feelings bottled for ten years, and his patience was wearing thin.

Hermione took a deep breath, "I had to get away" she responded simply, and calmly, as if it should be obvious, adding as an afterthought, unable to control all her anger, "and I don't appreciate being spoken to like that in my own place, especially by someone I haven't spoken to in ten years"

"And who's fault is that?" Harry retorted, slowly losing his self-restraint on his anger, the discussion becoming increasingly heated by the second.

"What does it matter that I left anyway? It's not as if I left any family behind, I wasn't leaving anyone alone-" She broke off at the sight of the look on Harry's face, who looked as if he had just been backhanded,

"What about me?" He demanded, barely concealing his hurt and anger, "Did you think I wouldn't care? That I wouldn't worry? You left without a word to anybody!"

"You have Ginny, you have the entire Weasley family, and they are your family, they always have been. But Me? I was never as much a part of that family as you were; yes, I had my parents, and yes, I had Ron. But they're gone now," Hermione faulted slightly, a lump forming in her throat, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks _I __haven__'__t __cried __about __them __in __ten __years __I __will __not __start __now _she thought bitterly, turning away from Harry, she didn't want his to see her crying and vulnerable after ten years, "Gone, because I could not save them! Because even though I tried to learn everything there was to learn about magic, it still wasn't enough-"

"You can't blame yourself for their deaths-" Harry interrupted her quietly, taking a step toward her hoping to quieten her before she got worse. What he didn't expect was his response making her explode,

"Yes I can!" she shouted, turning back to face him as her anger burst forth, "Especially my parents' death, they were reluctant for me to join the magical world form the beginning, did you know that? But I begged them to let me go. I wanted to know everything and I begged, and as a result I got them killed, do you have any idea how that feels?"

"Well, yes as a matter of fact," Harry's anger flaring as quickly as it had faulted, "or have you forgotten about Voldemort murdering my parents to get to me when I was a baby?"

"But that is different, you've always been a wizard, you're parents were both magical, they knew all there was to know about the magical world. You were born into that world, I wasn't, I had a choice, and if I had chosen to do what my parents wanted me to do they would still be here!-"

"How can you be so god damn dense Hermione-" Harry interrupted her, unconsciously stepping closer to her, losing the last little piece of self control, his fully fledged anger bursting out,

"Don't you dare speak to me like that-" Hermione, yelled, slowly reaching a level of anger high enough to rival even Harry's legendary temper, taking a step forward in turn. As their argument had progressed, both were shouting louder and louder, and without realising it, they had slowly made their way toward each other, so that now they were practically touching,

"WHY?" Harry shouted in her face, only just resisting the urge to grab her shoulders and shake her into sense and reason, "You're unbelievably naïve to think that just because you wouldn't know about Voldemort you're parents would be safe! No one was safe, Magical or Muggle. Ignoring it isn't going to get you anywhere. Now for god's sake, stop pretending to be Jennifer…whatever you call yourself. You're Hermione, Hermione. Jean. Granger. Get over it and move on!" Harry's anger had completely taken over, and he became aware from her demeanour that he may have crossed a line. It soon became apparent that the last sentence seemed to push Hermione over the edge, as she spoke next in a barely audible whisper, positively seething, her breathing strong an erratic.

"How. Dare. You." Hermione breathed, anger rippling off each word, "Who the _fuck_" – _wow_ thought Harry, as he took a step back from her; clearly he'd pushed her too far:The Hermione he knew never spoke like that unless she was _seriously_ pissed – "do you think you are to talk to me like that. What do you think I've been doing all these years? I have created a new life for myself here-" Hermione slowly began raising the volume of her rant, slowly building up to and explosion; Harry took another, slightly larger, step back "- a life away from everything that happened! So I could deal with it! In peace! On my own! No one constantly asking me in a hushed and patronising voice: '_how __are __you __coping?__' _or_ '__If __you __need __to __talk __you __know __where __I __am__' _and other pathetic, useless bullshit like that! And now, after ten years, you show up out of the blue! Shout at me and offend me, and then, presumably, expect me to come back with you-"

"I haven't even asked you that!" Harry yelled defensively, his anger almost giving way to his surprise that, as ever, she seemed to know his every thought,

"NO! BUT YOU WE'RE GOING TO!" Hermione's voice now reaching a higher pitch, almost too high for human ears to register, "I'm not stupid! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO COME HERE AND EXPECT ME TO DROP EVERYTHING! I'M HAPPY HERE, I HAVE MY OWN FRIENDS, MY OWN WORLD, THE MUGGLE WORLD, WHERE I BELONG WHERE IVE ALWAYS BELONGED-"

"THAT'S NOT TRUE AND YOU GOD DAMN KNOW IT" yelled Harry, brought back to his anger by the suggestion that Hermione was never meant to be more than ordinary,

Hermione remained silent for a couple of seconds and Harry was fully prepared for another explosion; in bracing himself for the worst, he was caught off guard by Hermione's large sigh and the slump of her shoulders, it was as if she simply decided to give up,

"Get out" she sighed, the abrupt change from yelling to a normal level surprised Harry, "what?"

"I said, Get out." She repeated, not looking at him, "Harry, I mean it, just go. NOW"

"Hermione-" he began, about to try and reason with her. Big mistake, Hermione exploded once again,

"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY CAFÉ. RIGHT. NOW!" she literally shrieked the words at him, almost perforating his eardrums

"OUT" she yelled, reaching for the empty mug she had been drinking for a half hour before. When Harry didn't move she yelled again, this time throwing the mug, which hit the wall above his head, causing his temper to flare once more.

"FINE!" he yelled, "BUT THIS IS NOT OVER! I'M NOT LEAVING HERE UNTIL I'VE TALKED TO YOU LIKE A RATIONAL HUMAN BEING! I DON'T CARE HOW LONG I HAVE TO WAIT, I'VE ALREADY WAITED TEN YEARS I'LL WAIT IT AGAIN IF I HAVE TO." With that he left, slamming the door behind.

Hermione stormed to the door, locked it and flipped the sign to 'closed', completely forgetting that was not long past midday. Then, sitting down at the nearest table, she began to cry for the first time since finding about her parents' death. She cried for hours, and the occasional rumble of thunder, slowly getting louder, was the only sound that could eventually drown out her sobs, and signalled the strengthening storm ready to rage throughout the night.

_A/N: So that's chapter 2, considerably longer than the first one, and quite possibly the longest of them all. But hopefully future chapters will be around this length._

_I hope you enjoyed the chapter, the next one will be up within the 24 hours, until then please review :)_

_xBx_


	4. Chapter 3  Rebuilding the Friendship

_A/N: Thank you to all of you who have made it this far, and especially to my reviewers, your opinions mean a lot and I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far._

_I hope the next chapter will live up to your expectations, and so enjoy..._

_xBx_

_DISCLAIMER: I own nothing except the plot..._

~ **Chapter ****3: ****Rebuilding ****a ****Friendship ****Can ****Be ****Difficult****… **~

Harry left Hermione's café blinded by anger, automatically treading the path down the main (and only) street, toward the bay. He paid no attention to his surroundings as he made his way onto the tiny beach, and began pacing back and forth across the sand. It wasn't until a particularly loud rumble of thunder recalled him to the present that he noticed the shower he had walked into was now a torrential downpour, with a discontented sigh he turned and made his way back up the hill toward his lodgings.

After all this time, ten long years of searching for Hermione, he had _finally_ found her, just as he was almost starting to give up hope of ever seeing her again. But their first conversation hadn't gone how he had imagined. He had pictured it thousands of times: Smiles, a warm embrace, and maybe some laughter as they caught up on what had happened in each other's absence, and starting to reminisce about old times. He hadn't expected so many tears; a few he expected, but not ones of anger, bitterness and grief. But the more thought about it, the more he realised how unreal his expectations had become; he realised now, that with every year that had passed, the prospect of an uncomplicated reunion had drifted further away. Mentally, he kicked himself for not coming here sooner, when he had first thought of this place a few years ago, but at the time it seemed so unlikely: he thought she would want to be somewhere unconnected with her parents, unconnected with her. It took him a couple of years (along with a growing sense of desperation) to acknowledge that perhaps a place from here early childhood, uncoloured by magical memories, but tinged with happy Muggle memories, might be the perfect place for her to slip into the Muggle world, with some ease and comfort.

Harry wondered if things would have been different if he had followed his whim four years ago: if he had turned up in her cosy coffee shop all those years ago would he have received a warmer welcome? Would she have fully settled into her new life? '_perhaps not',_ he thought, perhaps she would have welcomed him with open arms, been thankful Harry had turned up, and would have followed him back to the Wizarding world without hesitation...

Harry gave a bitter laugh, shaking his head to clear the ridiculous thoughts. '_Yeah,' _he thought _'__cause __everything __in __my __life works out that easy'__. _Who was he kidding? She was always going to have reacted this way, whether he had turned up now, or two month after she had left. All he had wanted was to talk to her, to tell her how much he had missed her, how much he wanted her back, _needed _her back.

If Harry was honest with himself, he had considered Hermione as more than just a friend for a long time - he had just always been too dense to realise it. And it had taken her disappearing from his life completely for him to realise just what he was missing.

She had always been there, right from the very beginning, since his first train ride to Hogwarts Hermione had been a strong and constant presence in his life. Hermione, Ron and himself - the Golden Trio, he couldn't imagine his life not including them, and then Ron started to develop feelings for Hermione, he saw it clear as day, perhaps that was when he subconsciously decided to bury the true extent of his feelings. Hermione's feelings were less easy to determine, and then there was Ginny. Hermione and Ginny became as close as sisters, Ginny became an add-on to the trio, and everyone seemed to expect Harry and Ginny to end up together, Ron and Hermione to find romance: Harry and Hermione were practically adopted into the Weasley family, but these couplings would cement that, almost fate like, and who were they to deny fate? - it was almost like it was their destinies. Almost.

But then the final battle came, and everything changed. Hermione lost the man she loved, she was heartbroken, and every time Harry saw her cry he died a little more inside. And then she left. It was then he realised he loved her, truly loved her more than life itself. When he realised she had gone it broke his heart. His and Ginny's relationship hadn't lasted long after that, both had been changed by the war, and no matter how hard they tried they couldn't keep it together. Harry had spent, from there on in, all his time free time, when he wasn't needed by the Ministry, searching for Hermione's whereabouts.

Harry's musings on the past ended abruptly as a deafening crack, accompanied by a bolt of lightening, erupted up above, and he hurried his pace to reach his lodgings before the full wrath of the storm bore down upon him.

After sitting for a good two hours almost, Hermione lifted her head from her arms; the thunder, now loud enough to shake the windows, brought her somewhat back to the present. Her sobs had subsided some time before, yet the tears still slid down her face. She lifted herself out of the chair and started to clean down the shop, doing the necessary preparations for the morrow, almost working on auto-pilot to get done what needed to be done, before retiring early to bed, too emotionally exhausted for anything else but sleep.

The next few days we're ones of somewhat normality for Hermione – well, 'Jennifer's normality' at the very least. Harry seemed to have got the message the other night, and (as of yet) had not returned to further provoke her. The next few days also happened to be some of the busiest yet, the storm of the other night had blown itself out, before dawn and had been replaced by clear blue skies: the brightening weather seemed to have everyone out, leaving Hermione rushed off her feet with no time for conversations or reflections, and before the week was out 'Jennifer' was back to her normal self, almost as if Harry's appearance had never happened.

Nearly a week after their confrontation, Hermione had started looking out for Harry wherever she went, if she was honest with herself, she had expected him back long before now, and was slightly disappointed when he didn't show, yet she couldn't seem to reason why this bothered her so much.

What she didn't know was that Harry had been there every single day. Stood outside, under his invisibility cloak, watching her, waiting for some opportunity to occur so he could catch her on her own - he was weary of approaching her in a crowd, a public brawl was something he desperately wished to avoid. At last an opportunity arose, one evening, just before closing. Only one customer remained, who was deep in conversation with Hermione, Harry recognised her as the women who was there the first night he arrived.

"Business starting to calm down in the evenings now, Jenny?" asked Betsy,

"A little, but the rest of day is as busy as ever" sighed Hermione, "not that I'm complaining, extra income is always welcomed"

As the only other customer left, Betsy thought it now safe to broach the subject she had wanted to pursue for a week. "I haven't seen you friend back since the other day, the tall gentleman, black hair, glasses, and vivid green eyes " Hermione tried not to let the discomfort she felt about such a topic show on her face. "Oh, he was just an acquaintance really, was only passing by"

"Mmm hmm" Betsy was clearly unconvinced, and could fully tell that Hermione was clearly trying to avoid the answer. When Hermione turned her back to organise some glasses behind the bar, Betsy continued, "I was under the impression you two were very close at one point, certainly more than mere 'acquaintances'… _Hermione_"

Hermione dropped the glass she was holding, gasped, and spun round all in quick succession when Betsy had said her actual name.

"What?.." Hermione's breathing became rapid as panic began to fill her. Betsy began to laugh,

"Dear, it's ok, I heard him call you that, and I haven't told anyone. I can understand the need to start again. And for the record, I always knew you weren't Jennifer" Hermione's shock increased even more, panicked slightly that this woman may know more about her past life than she was letting on "You look nothing like a Jennifer" Betsy claimed seriously, "A Lauren, maybe, but not a Jennifer" she added as an afterthought, before laughing at the look on Hermione's face.

Betsy tried to get more information, which Hermione was reluctant to give; though she was somewhat relieved to discover that Betsy had no idea who she actually was, no idea about her magical life she had left behind.

"But usually, one has nothing, or no one to leave behind when they begin again" Betsy gave one last attempt at discovering anything,

"I didn't, that's why I left and started again"

"The tall, dark haired gentleman seems to think differently" the two were so wrapped up in their conversation to notice Harry enter and seat himself in a corner, out of direct eye-line.

"Harry has his own life, he doesn't need me," Harry started at hearing his own name, "he never did really, I don't know why he is here, he was probably just passing, and accidentally ran into me" - Harry's hear gave a jolt, did she really believe that?

"hmm," muttered Betsy, clearly not convinced, before sighing and continuing "Well dear, I shall leave you once again to your cleaning and return home, I dare say I will see you tomorrow" with that she left, noticing Harry she gave him an encouraging smile as she passed through the door.

Only then did Hermione notice her last customer, "We're closing," she stated simply.

"Hermione please, I just want to apologise, and talk. About anything I don't care, just please, let me stay for a while" he pleaded, adding in his desperation "I've waited too long, I'm not leaving without some sort of conversation"

Hermione sighed, too exhausted to argue, "fine," she conceded, and turned to start cleaning, moments passed in silence as Hermione began loading the dishwasher with the last of the dirty pots,

"Do you want any help? Might as well make myself useful" Harry asked after a while,

"You can clean the tables if you like" she said, pulling out a cloth and disinfectant spray from under the counter, "Without magic" Hermione added, slightly annoyed, when she noticed Harry had pulled out his wand,

"Hermione" he whined, "you may have given up magic but I haven't"

"I don't care" she replied with a hint of a smile, "You're in a muggle village, in a muggle store, so we do things the muggle way"

"Fine", he conceded, putting his wand away, not wanting to anger here and ruin the moment; he took the cleaning materials Hermione handed him, "It would be so much quicker with magic" he mumbled, but not quiet enough to escape Hermione's sharp ears,

"There are twelve tables, it will take you less than five minutes, get over it" she snapped, but Harry could hear the smile in her voice, and for a moment it felt like old times.

The two worked in silence for a while, when Harry had finished with tables he unloaded the dishwasher putting everything back in its place, then looked over Hermione's book collection while she finished mopping the floor. Finally, after what felt like hours though it was only one, Harry was first to speak, he just couldn't stand the silence any longer.

"I've missed you like you wouldn't believe" he spoke barely above a whisper,

Hermione sighed, "Harry-"

"I'm not trying to get you to come back," he insisted, "honestly. I've watched you working this week," he admitted, "I was trying to find you on your own so we could talk, and I've seen how happy you are doing this. I don't want to take you away from it all. I just want to know why. Why you left us. Why you left me" he finished dejectedly, and sat down at the nearest table.

Hermione sat down opposite him with a sigh, "Harry, I had nothing left. And I couldn't stay behind, with the constant memories of what I'd lost and why. I wasn't strong enough for that, I don't think I'll ever be strong enough to cope with that, alone." Hermione's voice cracked a little as she spoke, tears threatening to escape once again. Harry noticed this, which caused him to do the same, his voice barely a whisper as he spoke next, "you have me, you always had me" he looked Hermione straight in the eye, Hermione returning his earnest gaze. "Not really, you have Ginny." She said with a sad smile, "You're hers, she was always going to be the first on your list, I would have just been the third wheel"

"Ginny and me split up. A long time ago" Harry stated bluntly, "She's married now. And pregnant with her second kid" he added

"I'm sorry"

"Don't be. We drifted apart, more like family than lovers. We're still on close terms." Silence followed, "She wasn't the love of my life" he added, quietly, almost too quiet to hear, more to himself, but Hermione heard it all the same: she didn't know what to say, and was slightly distracted with thinking who it was that Harry was truly in love with, and if he was with her now, she sneaked a peak at his left hand…no wedding band…though that didn't mean anything, she knew plenty of married men who never wore one. While Hermione was musing on the identity of his beloved, Harry was deliberating over whether to tell her the real reason he and Ginny broke up. Finally Harry spoke, and ever the coward, pushed his feelings to side,

"I still don't understand why you left completely. Why you changed your name, created an entire new life"

Hermione thought for a second about how best to explain her reasoning, which would probably seem illogical to others, and then sighed, deciding to answer a question with a question, "Don't you ever wonder what it would be like to be a muggle again? What it would be like if the Wizarding world was unknown to us? Complete ignorance of it, no war, and no Voldemort…No hurt. That was all I was thinking, that's what I wanted, to go back to a life that was uncomplicated by magic, a simple Muggle way of life." She paused, watching Harry to see if he understood her point of view, he nodded, as if he knew where she was coming from, and she continued "Harry I've built a life for myself here, a new life that I love, where no one I get close to gets hurt, no one gets murdered by evil-"

"But what about what you left behind?" Harry interrupted, his emotions getting the better of him once again, "_Who_ you left behind? Hermione there are a lot of people who love you, and miss you. Who worry about you and think about you every single day. Please come home to us," he begged, adding quietly " come home to me-"

"This is home now" the tears were now flowing freely despite Hermione's best efforts "Harry, I'm not leaving. I can't leave, it's my life now, you have to understand that, please"

Harry sat silent a few moments; he didn't want to let Hermione go again, didn't want to lose her, but if he pushed her too much he would simply repeat the scene from the other night. Or worse, take off again, new place, new start, new life, and he'd be right back where he was ten years ago. He sighed, and nodded in defeat,

"Well, will you at least let me stick around; hang out like we used to? Please Hermione, now I've found you I don't want to leave you"

Hermione could see the earnest in his eyes, and knew he wasn't going to leave anytime soon, no matter what she said.

Hermione nodded, then asked "Where are you staying?" Harry gave a little grin, he was slowly winning, he could hear the resignation in her voice, "at the top of the hill, The Victoria" he answered,

"Look, if your planning on staying thinking you can convince me to go back with you-"

"No" he interrupted, holding up his hands in surrender, "you've made yourself clear, you don't want to leave. But I want to stay. I've missed you"

She looked at him earnestly, a look that seemed to last a lifetime to Harry, unsure whether she was going to shout or not, then her expression softened, "If you're planning on staying a while you're going to spend a fortune at the Vic'" Harry shrugged, Hermione rolled her eyes, "I have a spare room, with a perfectly good, comfy bed, it's yours if you want it" with that Hermione stood, turned and headed for the stairs behind the counter, when she reached the bottom stairs she turned back to Harry, "coming?"

_A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I'm editing the next one at the moment, so I shall hopefully have it up in a few hours time,_

_Please review, I'm enjoying the feedback greatly :) thank you for reading_

_xBx_


	5. Chapter 4  A Different kinda Friendship

_A/N: There isn't as much dialogue in this chapter, compared to the others, mainly description based to get the story moving along. Another huge thank you to everyone keeping up with the story, thank you for adding me to your favourites, signing up for the story alerts, and especially for taking the time review, your support of the story and of me is greatly appreciated._

_and now to the story, Enjoy..._

_DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but the plot..._

**~ Chapter 4: A Rebuilt Friendship can be Confusing ~**

Harry's first night with Hermione wasn't as eventful as he had anticipated; he had hoped to have carried on talking, learn more about her new life, her new friends. But she merely made-up the bed for him, went up to (what he presumed to be) her room, and didn't emerge till the next morning. While Hermione had been making her spare room comfortable, Harry had a chance to take in his surroundings; the place was only small, but it was comfortable, books filled every available surface - Harry smiled, only Hermione could have too many books to fill a bookshop. The main living space was open plan; kitchen, dining and living all merged into one and the high ceiling going up to open rafters creating an light and airy atmosphere. To the side of the main living area were two rooms, a snug double room, that would serve as Harry's bedroom for the duration of this space, and a decent sized bathroom for such a small place - a large, free-standing roll-top bath was the centre-piece of the room, he remembered how Hermione used to spend hours bathing after a particularly stressful day of lessons. Above the two rooms was another level, which he assumed to be Hermione's bedroom: it spread the length of flat and had a small balcony running along the side, the stairs coming down by the front door.

Harry spent most of the night thinking of how he could break the ice that had settled between them over the years, he just didn't understand how two people who were once so close, now had barely two words to say to each other – surely they couldn't have turned into complete strangers, no matter how many years had passed, he could never imagine Hermione and himself becoming so far apart that they had nothing to say, it just didn't feel right.

Harry lay there pondering this, trying to come up with something, until he finally drifted off onto a deep sleep, blissfully unaware of the surrounding goings-on, happening in the room above.

Hermione had the worst nights sleep of her life. Firstly, Crookshanks decided that the mirror wasn't nearly cracked enough for his liking, and spent most of night banging things against it: anything he could find, from his toys, to random objects he stole from Hermione's nightstand. He eventually managed to crack the glass from top to bottom, but continued his endeavour, only stopping when he managed to shatter a good sized section from the bottom corner – which only earned himself a pillow, unceremoniously thrown with great force by Hermione, which landed on his head and effectively ended his glorified mood, and willingness to continue.

For those brief half hours of respite that Crookshanks took, Hermione managed to snatch a brief snooze, but it wasn't until Crookshanks called it a night that she managed to fall into a more lasting sleep. But Hermione was not blessed with an easy slumber, instead it was made restless by continuing dreams, revisiting all the painful memories she had long ago shut out, but that had come back to the surface, thanks to Harry's unexpected reappearance in her life.

The next day passed in somewhat of a blur for Hermione; she had left Harry early in the morning, to go open up her store – she presumed he was still sleeping in the spare room, and left him a note telling to make himself at home.

The day passed the same as any other normal day, and while she was fairly busy, as was usual for the holiday season, she was still aware that she hadn't seen Harry once throughout the whole day. When closing time had finally arrived, and the place was cleaned, stocked and ready for the morning, Hermione trudged back up to her apartment, thinking longingly of a hot bubble bath to soak her aching muscles.

When she reached her kitchen she was met with a surprise, welcome or not was yet to be decided.

"Erm, what are you doing?" Hermione didn't mean to snap, but the words came out a little sharper than she intended, causing Harry to jump.

"Don't get mad, but I just wanted to do something as a thank you for letting me stay. So I decided to cook you dinner, I know how rushed you can get, and how exhausted you must be, and I'm guessing the last thing you want to do is cook."

He ended his slightly flustered statement with a small shrug and goofy grin. Hermione smiled back, "Thank you. But I feel like taking a bath first, can you keep mine warm for me, you can go ahead with out me."

Harry smiled, "Dinner won't be ready for another half hour, then it'll stay warm however long you want it to, take all the time you need."

Hermione, smiled her thanks and headed to the bathroom, when she opened the door, her eyes widened and she gasped out loud, Harry presumably heard this as his voice travelled form the kitchen "yeah, I thought you might be wanting a bath, I remember you used to always have one after a particularly stressful day of lessons, so I took the liberty of having it ready for when you got home, hope you don't mind?"

"Not at all, thank you" she called back, walking into the candle-lit bathroom, shedding her clothes and stepping into the tub full of bubbles and water at the perfect temperature for her, _How __did __he __know, _she thought _How __could __he __remember __after __all __these __years? __And __why __is __he __trying __to __suck __up? _She thought, but Hermione didn't dwell too long on unpleasant suppositions, instead she let the hot water evaporate her stress and anxiety.

Eventually, once all the stress had been washed away, Hermione felt ready to face the evening ahead. After ten years of absence she was unsure of how comfortably they would be able to spend an evening together. The evening wasn't as awkward, or as trying as Hermione had feared: it perhaps started with a tangible degree of awkwardness and reserve, however after a semi-comfortable meal, followed by a bottle of wine, Harry and Hermione were almost able to talk as they once used to. They spent most of night in comfortable conversation; though keeping to general topics and vague reminiscences of early school days, and both consciously avoiding the names of the lost third of their Golden Trio, and other members of the family she was once very much a part of – however much she felt like denying it.

The rest of the week passed in much the same way; as they moved onto the next week their conversation began to flow more easily, and they even began to broach on the subjects they had been strenuously avoiding. Hermione engaged the subject first, quizzing Harry on what he had been doing over the ten years; Harry told how he was now living in Grimmauld Place; with the help of George and Kreacher, the place had become almost unrecognisable to what it used to be, back in the day's of the Order. Upon questioning on the unlikely, and unexpected mention of George's name, Harry proceeded to explain how he and George had become to be each other's shadow. George had remained in his London flat, in Diagon Alley, above the Joke shop, though he spent as much time over at Grimmauld place, as he did there. It seemed that after the war, after the loss of Fred and Ron, they seemed to just naturally fall together: though they could never each replace what the other had lost, they built a solid friendship, and it became increasingly rare to see the one without the other.

Harry soon became a known face in the café, he began to know the locals, and the friends Hermione had made over the years – he became a particular favourite with Betsy within hours. And, at Hermione's request, he helped her keep up her 'Jennifer' façade, without question or complaint – he sometimes accidentally called her Hermione, though he was quite sure his mistakes were never overheard by anyone else but her.

As Harry went into his second week of staying with Hermione, the couple had become as comfortable with each other as they ever were, almost as if they had never spent any time apart. Hermione's thirst for knowledge (as keen as she ever was to know everything she could possibly know) and her want to know all that had happened in her absence, led her to start asking about the other's she used to know so well. They started to discuss Harry and Ginny's relationship, which had rekindled after the final battle, but had started to fall apart not long after Hermione had disappeared. Harry simply blamed the break on a mutual drift; they were high-school sweethearts, and would always be friends, but as the each grew up they grew apart – something so common that Hermione never questioned. What Harry refrained from mentioning was that Hermione's disappearance was the catalyst to the break-up; Harry became obsessed with finding her, and every day that went by without finding her brought him deeper into a despair; Ginny became first angered and jealous that he seemed to care more for Hermione, than for what was right there in front of him, eventually she became resigned to what she felt sure she had always known.

Harry told how the Holyhead Harpies had recruited Ginny not long after the war, and how she was one of their best chasers. How she was now married to another quidditch player, from a rival team, and already had a little toddler with another child on the way.

By the time Harry had been there three weeks, the Hermione he had once known was making her way back through the carefully crafted façade. Her eyes started to sparkle when she laughed, and she laughed more often, her smile almost constantly present; a true happy wide smile now replaced the mask-like serene smile that was more worthy of a Tudor courtier commanded to be happy, than that of a truly care-free young woman.

It was now too easy to fall into the memories of her past, every evening, over dinner a couple of bottles of wine, they would reminisce about their time at Hogwarts, and could even look back at the time they spent on the run with some fond memories…. after all, breaking out of Gringotts on the back of a dragon had been incredibly exhilarating, and rather funny in hindsight, though at the time it was terrifying.

"Hmmmm" Hermione sighed after one such hour of reliving some happy memories of Hogwarts; wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, where she lay the full length of the couch, "I miss those days. Miss them more than anything." She sighed again, bringing a hand to rest behind her head, as she gazed up at the ceiling, before giggling again at the remembrance of her misdemeanours.

Harry was watching here from where he was lounging on the plush rug, by the fireside, stroking the orange fur-ball that was Crookshanks; he took a breath, before asking what he'd been longing to ask again, since the day he had arrived in this tiny little village:

"Hermione, if you miss it so much why don't you come back?" he said desperately, Hermione turned onto her side, propping her elbow on the cushion she had been using for a pillow, resting her head on her had. She looked at him and saw the pain in his eyes, pain he wasn't even trying to disguise, and she realised then that her leaving had affected him more than she had anticipated; this realisation brought a lump to her throat.

"I'm sorry, Harry." She whispered, before swallowing, trying not to let the tears come to hear eyes, "So sorry, but I just needed to get away." Even to her, this excuse sounded pathetic, she pushed on, trying to explain what had been going through here head at the time, desperately wanting him to understand. "It wasn't easy, leaving everyone. But I just didn't feel strong enough to cope, especially surrounded by constant reminders. I needed a clean break. It was hard, possibly the hardest thing I've ever had to do. But I had to do it, for me, to build myself back up again." A few seconds of silence ensued, as Harry took in what she had said, Hermione started to feel the return of discomfort, and immediately became slightly defensive, fearful he was going to ask her to return with him, "And you said you weren't going to try and persuade me-" she started, wanting to remind him of his promise,

"I'm sorry." He interrupted her, "It's just…" Harry tailed off, and sighed, not really knowing what he was trying to say, or how to say it – Crookshanks looked up as Harry unconsciously desisted in his petting, Crookshanks in his turn stretched, and sulked off to find something else to do, completely unnoticed by the pair.

"What Harry?" Hermione asked, the hurt still hadn't gone from his eyes, and she wanted to know what he was thinking, how he truly thought of her, and her rash decision all those years ago.

He sighed again, and continued defeated, "It took me so long to find you, and I don't want to lose you again" he said, without looking up. He didn't dare look at her now; he knew if he did he might say something he wasn't quite ready to say just yet, _and __god __knows, _he thought _she__'__d __probably __run __a __mile __if __I __did._

Hermione sighed, "You won't lose me again. I promise." She said, without thinking of the consequences of her actions, what had she agreed to? All she wanted was to try and undo some of the pain she had unconsciously caused him in her most selfish action. Harry gave a small smile at her response, still without looking up,

"Besides," Hermione continued, trying to inject some light-heartedness into a conversation that was become too deep and emotional, "you know where I live now" she stated, throwing a cushion at him to get his attention back, in the hope if dispelling his new found melancholy that seemed to be taking over, adding as an afterthought, "and I really don't think I could start a new life all over again, do you have any idea who complicated and exhausting it is?" Harry looked up to see her smirk, followed quickly by a laugh, causing him to laugh in turn.

Harry had barely started to laugh when a huge crash sounded form Hermione's bedroom; the pair turned towards the noise, Harry concerned, but Hermione's face betrayed a hint of annoyance, as she spoke through gritted teeth "I will kill that cat soon." She hissed as she raised herself from the sofa, followed by a curious Harry, and went to her room. Crookshanks was laid at the foot of the bed, a look of triumph in his face, glass littering the floor under the mirror,

Hermione stood in the doorway, taking in the scene of destruction, Harry looking over her shoulder, "Crookshanks!" Hermione yelled, "Half the mirror is gone!" Crookshanks merely looked at her as if to say "point being?" earning a strange growl from Hermione, who seemed about ready to throttle her beloved pet. Harry meanwhile had been taking in the dimensions of the room, "Hermione?" he questioned, "What's behind there?" he asked, signalling the mirror.

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><p><em>AN: Hope you enjoyed the latest update, and the story so far. Thank you for reading, the next few chapters need a lot of editing to make them fit for posting, so it may be a couple of days before the next set of updates, but I will get them ready asap :)_

_Thank's for reading, and please review :) I've loved every review I've gotten so far (and I will respond to them all before my next update), and I can't wait to hear what you think of this one :)_

_xBx_


	6. Chapter 5 A Turning Point

_A/N: Sorry about the delay with this chapter, I know it's a few days later than I said it was going to be, but it took a little more editing than I had anticipated, I wasn't quite sure where to take it for the best, or how to end. But finally, it is completed. _

_Another quick thank you, to everyone who has continued to read, and for all my wonderful reviews. I hope you continue to enjoy, and I hope this chapter has been worth the wait._

_xBx_

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><p><em>DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but the title and the plot :) The rest belongs to JK. Rowling<em>

~ **Chapter ****5: ****A ****Turning ****Point ~**

"Behind the glass?" Hermione asked in rhetoric, while picking up shards of mirror, avoiding his gaze, "That would be a wall Harry," sarcasm coloured her tone, and Harry couldn't help but smile reluctantly, though he arranged his face into a humourless expression by the time she looked up, raising his eyebrows at her, inviting to her explain truthfully this time round,

"What?" she asked defensively, "It's a wall, a normal wall, separates the inside from the outside."

"Hermione, you're room is in the rafters, on one side the roof slopes down" He indicated to his left, and continued "as one would expect in the rafters. That opposite wall, the one with the mirror on it, does not have a sloping ceiling. Which makes me _assume_ that it has been added on and that there is space behind it. The fact that the mirror goes from floor to ceiling makes me _assume_ it's concealing a doorway of some sorts, and judging from Crookshanks' attempts at breaking the mirror, I'm going to _assume _it's a room that has something in it, something Crookshanks wants." His tone clearly indicated that he believed his 'assumptions' were in fact the truth, and he was only spelling it out so precisely to assure Hermione he knew full well she was hiding something.

"You're _assuming _a lot, aren't you?" answered Hermione, clearly not giving any hints about even the possibility that Harry was onto something, and Harry knew her well enough to know he wasn't finding anything out anytime soon,

"You're not going to tell me anything, are you?" He asked, admitting defeat

"Nope." Hermione stated, confirming Harry's belief, "There's nothing interesting to tell."

Harry could tell from the tone of her voice that this particular conversation was at end. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry." Harry stated, giving up for the present, "You want any help?" he offered, watching here throwing the large shards of glass into a bin,

"Nah it's fine, I pretty much got it all" she answered, looking up with a smile of thanks for the offer, "All the big pieces anyway, I'll get the rest with the Hoover"

"It would be easier with a wand, you know?" Harry muttered darkly, he knew he was pushing his luck but he couldn't refrain from the comment, unfortunately he was heard, and Hermione responded with a glare. Harry held up his hands in surrender quickly apologising, before she fired up, "I didn't think you'd hear that. I'm sorry." Hermione laughed at the hint of fear in his posture and voice, even when she didn't have a wand he was slightly scared of angering her…and he really didn't want a repeat of the arguments they had had when he had first arrived.

Harry didn't bring up the subject of the suspected hidden room again; the weeks continued to pass by and before he knew it, Harry had been staying with Hermione for nearly six weeks. He left for brief periods of time, sometimes an entire day – but as Hermione was often incredibly busy with her own work, he was never really missed, and he always managed to make it back in time for closing. As well as checking into Grimmauld place every now and then, to update Kreacher on his where-abouts, and get a fresh batch of clothes, he would spend a couple of extra hours at the ministry to catch up on paperwork. It wasn't long, however, before Harry started bringing that paperwork back to Hermione's, in order to spend less time away.

Hermione had now become so used to Harry's presence it was as if he had always been there. And it wasn't long before Hermione's customers forgot he was only a recent addition to the place.

It hadn't taken the pair long to fall into an easy routine: they would breakfast together, before Hermione went down to open up, at which point Harry would leave for work – always careful not to disappearate in Hermione's view, she was still adamant about not using magic in any way. When it came to the end of the day, after Harry's prompt arrival in time for clean-down and closing, Hermione would cash-up while Harry, once the place was fully swept and mopped, went upstairs to begin dinner (he'd picked up a lot of helpful hints and tips from Kreacher over the years), and if the day had been a particularly stressful one he would also run Hermione a bubble bath; they would spend every evening in comfortable companionship, curled up on the sofa with a bottle of wine.

Eventually the summer was over, the days were starting to shorten, and there was a definite chill in the air; the last warm days of September reluctantly gave way to the drearier days of October.

After two months of Harry's near constant presence in her life, Hermione began to forget that he had ever been out of her life, they had grown so close in such a short space of time, closer than she could have imagined, and Hermione had gotten so used to Harry being around that whenever he was called away to work for the entirety of the day, she began to feel lonely, and longed for his return. More than this, Hermione started to count down the hours until closing, something she had never done before as closing meant an entire evening of loneliness; now however, it meant an evening spent in the company of Harry, the prospect of which started to bring a flutter of excitement to her stomach. She began craving the time spent with him, finding the hours they spent apart more tedious every day, and she would often find her mind wondering, especially during those hours when business was slow, which was becoming more frequent now that the summer rush had ended. During these lulls she would undoubtedly find herself thinking of Harry, and what he might be doing, or something he had said the night before; today she was particularly lost in though of how he looked this morning when Hermione had come down the stairs and nearly ran into him as he came out of the bathroom, wearing a towel wrapped round his waste, his hair still wet. A sly smile found it's way onto Hermione's face as she recalled this particular memory; _Hermione __had __been __left __momentarily __speechless __when __she __came __downstairs __earlier __than __usual, __and __had __been __met __by __Harry __coming __out __of __the __bathroom, __one __hand __holding __a __towel __round __his __waist, __the __other __rubbing __a __separate __towel __through __his __hair. __He __stopped __when __he __saw __Hermione __staring,__ "__Morning,__" __he __said,__ "__the __shower __didn__'__t __wake __you __did __it?__" __Hermione __shook __her __head __and __managed __to __make __a __semi-coherent __sound __of__ "__uh-uh__" __as __she __watched __a __water __droplet __roll __from __his __neck, __over __his __chest __and __down __his __abs__…__. his __very __toned __and __chiselled __looking __abs__…__._

At the time, Hermione had wrenched her gaze back to Harry's face and smiled, a slight blush forming in her cheeks, and announced she'd make a start on breakfast, before hurrying to the kitchen. Now however, in the brief lull in business, Hermione remained lost in thought, thinking about the body she had seen this morning…. She wasn't sure why she was so mesmerised, she knew he had a good physique…. being an avid Quidditch player would do that to you, and even she had toned up a fair bit when they were searching for horcruxes, the runaway lifestyle proving a rather affective excise regime. But seeing it in person was something different. Her mind's eye moved on from Harry's chiselled six-pack onto his muscled arms, they weren't huge, body-builder arms, but they were strong looking, arms you'd feel safe in…. Hermione began to wonder what they would feel like wrapped around her, the thought sending a shiver down her spine…._'__and __his __thighs,__'_ thought Hermione, though his thighs were completely covered by his towel this morning, her imagination told her he had good strong thighs… Hermione shook herself back into the present; she shouldn't be thinking these kinds of thoughts, especially not while working…. and especially not about her best friend. This was definitely crossing some sort of line._ '__Merlin, __girl, __what __is __wrong __with __you?__'_ She thought, _'__The __last __thing __you __need __is __to __go __falling __for __Harry __Potter__' _she silently reprimanded herself. Luckily, a late lunchtime flurry of custom helped Hermione regain control of her wondering imagination, and by the time Harry arrived back to help with the close down, her slightly inappropriate thoughts were well hidden, and almost forgotten, in the back of her mind.

Due to the general lack of custom, compared with the earlier summer weeks, the cleaning and cashing up look less time than usual, giving the pair a longer more relaxing evening to enjoy; by the time they had made their way from two bottles of wine they were the most relaxed they had been together since Harry's first arrival at the bay. They were both cosy on the sofa, settling in to watch some random movie playing on TV: Harry was lounged with his left arm draped over the back and Hermione sat turned towards him, her legs tucked under her, both hands cradling her drink. Eventually both had turned their bodies out toward the TV, their conversation coming to a natural lull as they became caught up in the film; Harry's arm remained over the back of the sofa, and before long Hermione was resting along Harry's side, her head falling into his shoulder as she became more relaxed, almost succumbing to sleep. Harry instinctively dropped his arm around her shoulders, holding her close, resting his head onto hers as Hermione snuggled closer to him.

"Hermione," Harry whispered,

"Hmm?" Hermione managed to sleepily respond, only vaguely aware in the furthest part of her mind that she was about to fall asleep in Harry's arms - a part of her mind that also vaguely remembered the uncovered arms and torso from this morning, she smiled lazily at this vague thought. Harry's mind was warring with itself: he so much wanted to stay right there and fall asleep on the sofa; the last thing he wanted was for Hermione to move away from him. On the other had, he felt he ought to be a gentleman and let the woman get a good nights sleep in her own bed, ready for another long day of business;

"We both have to be up early, maybe we should turn in…" Hermione turned her head up towards him, her eyes opening lazily, their faces were closer than either had anticipated. Hermione's heart race increased as she stared into his eyes, unable to look away, wine and weariness inhibiting her thoughts to a sluggish degree. She felt Harry's heart quicken, where she was still pressed up to his chest, which made her heart rate accelerate more, unbidden the image of him from this morning, in nothing but a towel, returned to her mind, and she felt her stomach fill with butterflies as lustful images filled her mind; her breathing hitched as she saw a flicker of something like want in Harry's eyes.

Harry likewise felt Hermione's heartbeat as they were pressed so close together, the slight feel of her breath on his neck sent a shiver up his spine, he was sure she would be able to see the need in his eyes, he heard her breath catch and before he could control what he did, he brought his lips down to meet hers.

He kissed her gently, his lips barely brushing hers, unsure how she was going to react. Hermione responded immediately, lifting her head to Harry, deepening the kiss.

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><p><em>AN: I know it's rather shorter than the previous couple, and not a lot as happened, but I felt it was time for a little bit of fluff to lighten the mood :) and this seemed like the right place to end it._

_I'm starting work on the next few chapters, the story is going in a completely different (and much better) direction than the original one I wrote years ago, which means these next few chapters need a LOT of work, so the next updates may be a while. I will, however, try to update in less than a weeks time. _

_Until then, please review and let me know what you think,_

_xBx_


	7. Chapter 6  One Month Later

_A/N: Hello again my faithful readers! Welcome to chapter 6, I'm posting a little earlier than I had planned - yay - I had a sudden burst of inspiration, another little twist. _

_Thank you, once again, for all the wonderful reviews you are giving me, I'm really glad you're still enjoying the work, I hope you enjoy the next chapter just as much :)_

_xBx_

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><p><em>DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but the plot :)<em>

**~ Chapter 6: One Month Later ~**

A month had passed since Harry had Kissed Hermione, though she remembered it as if it was only yesterday. Four long weeks and Hermione hadn't seen, or heard from him since then…

_[one month earlier...]_

_After what felt like a blissful forever – or maybe just the best 30 seconds of her life – Hermione pulled away, slightly breathless she managed to say, "I'm sorry, Harry, I can't -"_

"_No" He cut her off, pulling back, "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking…" Harry trailed off, not knowing what to say next, afraid of slipping into awkwardness,_

_Hermione gave a small smile, "It's ok. I just, can't right now." She said, apologetically, "I don't know what's going on in my head right now. Everything's happening too quick, just give me time" she finished quietly, the words had tumbled out, and she was only vaguely aware of saying half of it. Before Harry could respond, or even think of what to say in response, they were both startled by a loud crack, as Kreacher appeared before them –_

"_Kreacher!" Harry stated in alarm, "I though I told you not to apparate here - " he started, glancing apologetically at Hermione, he had been so careful to not use any signs of magic around her...and he was pretty convinced she still held firm to her beliefs concerning elf-rights,_

"_I'm terribly sorry, Master Harry," Kreacher stated in a rush, "Please forgive me, but this has just arrived for you, from the ministry. It requires an immediate response. Otherwise I wouldn't have come, sir" Kreacher held out an official looking letter, in a violet envelope, as he spoke. Harry took it, and tore it open immediately, quickly scanning the few lines that had been written in obvious haste – Hermione noted his expression darken with each line, and it filled her with a deep sense of unease…she had no idea what had been going on in the wizarding world these past ten years, she had no idea about the danger to which Harry had been undoubtedly called, _

"_What is it?" she asked quietly,_

"_A man we've been searching for, for nearly two years now. We've found him, well we have positive traces of him now, anyway. I have to leave, we'll be heading out to Russia as soon as possible, I imagine"_

"_Russia?" Hermione breathed, her alarm rising,_

"_Yeah, We've thought, well we pretty much knew he was there for a while now. But without a solid piece of evidence to base our theories on, the Ministry has been reluctant to send out a manhunt." Harry explained quickly, "Gotta love the red tape policies" he muttered as an aside, he then noticed the look on Hermione's face, and smiled, "Don't worry," he reassured her, "We've, both of us, have been up against worse than him. Trust me. He's nothing compared to Voldemort" Hermione blanched at the sound of a name she hadn't even thought of in ten years, and images of the friends they had lost in the war against him came quickly to her mind._

"_I'll see you soon, I promise" Harry said hurriedly, and without thinking he kissed her quickly, as if it was a automated response, and disapparated. Kreacher followed him, lingering only a moment to offer a further apology to Hermione, for intruding into her home. With another crack, Hermione was left alone again, to try and make some sense of the confusion that had gone on around her in the space of five minutes: all of a sudden, she was much more immersed back in the Wizarding world than she had bargained for…_

Hermione sighed, she had only seen Harry once since then, and it had been the morning after: _just __as __she __was __coming __down __to __breakfast, __he __had __appeared, __giving __her __a __hurried __message __that __he __would __be __leaving __for __Russia __with __a __selection __of __Aurors, __in __a __matter __of __hours.__ "__I __don__'__t __know __how __long __it __will __take, __but __don__'__t __worry __I__'__ll __be __fine. __I __don__'__t __know __if __I__'__ll __be __able __to __contact __you __or __not, __but __if __you__'__ll __let __me, __I__'__ll __call __in __on __you __the __moment __I __get __back __to __England?__"_

"_Of course," Hermione agreed breathlessly, trying to take in all the hurried information, "Be safe" she managed to say before he disapparated, before quietly adding "I'll miss you"._

...

Hermione waited for news, waited for four long weeks, but nothing came. She didn't even know where to begin to look for news of him, on some evenings she went so far as to even consider calling Kreacher, though as she was not his master, she doubted he would hear her. She had no idea how else she would receive news, other than from Harry himself; having been out of the Magical world for so long, she felt at a slight loss as to how to start to immerse herself back into it. So Hermione waited, for what felt like an eternity. As the weeks went by, she found herself staring absentmindedly at her mirror, gazing as if she could see beyond it, as if willing herself to go beyond it, but never moving towards it.

Not a day had gone by without Hermione thinking of the kiss, and trying to evaluate everything that was now going on inside her head: She could not help but start to wonder just how awkward her next meeting with Harry was going to be – the longer they were apart, the more awkward they would become; his brief return the morning after had been so rushed, and the necessary communications left little time for any sense of awkwardness to develop. But now that Hermione had had time to really think about it, it was clear to her that they had crossed the line between friendship and something more. It was possible, or so Hermione thought, that this line could be re-crossed – the kiss could be written off as a mistake, too much wine perhaps – they could go back to before it happened, as if they had never kissed in the first place, things could go back to normal, just being the best of friends. But, if Hermione was being honest with herself, there was a part of her that didn't think they could do that, and the more she thought about it, the more she came to realise that she didn't want to do that…

…"Jenni…Jennifer?" Her most constant regular brought Hermione back to her present, how long she had been talking to her, Hermione had no idea.

"hmm? Sorry Betsy, I was in a world of my own" Hermione sighed,

"I can see that m'dear" Betsy answered with a smile, "you've been wiping over that same spot for the past fifteen minutes. Is everything alright" she asked, clearly concerned. Hermione flashed her well-rehearsed smile, "of course, why wouldn't I be?" she asked, earning a raised eyebrow from Betsy, Hermione sighed "I'm just finding I have plenty of time for my mind to wander, now that business is slowing down again." Then added as an afterthought, "I find I now have more time on my hands than I know what to do with, at the moment. Especially with the weather being as it is," she gestured outside to the steady rain that had continued over the past five days.

"Come and sit down, dear," said Betsy, suddenly "you deserve a break, you can stop polishing the gleaming counter before it no longer exists"

Hermione laughed, "oh alright," she conceded, "I suppose I can spare ten minutes"

"There's no one else here, and it's after four, you can spend a lot longer than ten-minutes" said Betsy as she went back to her table, followed by Hermione, who carried a fresh pot of tea to share, readying herself for an hour or so of small town gossip.

" Now," started Betsy, "What's on your mind this time?"

"It's nothing, really," replied Hermione, not really wanting to pour out her heart to someone who new nothing of her hidden past.

"It's Harry isn't it?" Betsy asked, without pause for thought, Hermione glanced at Betsy, looking away almost immediately, not wanting to answer, so Betsy pushed on, letting Hermione know she'd seen more than Hermione had realised, "you miss him don't you? I can see it in your eyes, every time someone walks through the door; you turn with an expectant look on your face. Then when you see it isn't him you fall into disappointment, then shake your head, and carry on as if nothing happened. Am I right?"

Hermione stared, surprised at how much Betsy had notice, but still didn't say anything, not knowing what to say. And if she was to say anything, not knowing how much to divulge. When Hermione didn't respond Betsy decided to take drastic action to shock her into talking, and throwing all caution to the wind she sighed, and stated, "That Harry Potter, he may have been the chosen one, but I always knew he went for the wrong girl. Why did he chose Ginny Weasley, when it was always obvious he was destined for you, Hermione Granger."

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><p><em>AN: well, there it is, my beautiful readers. A little shorter than the previous ones, but I really wanted to end it at this point. Chapter 7 will most definitely be longer, and I'm working on it right now, so I hopefully won't keep you waiting too long for the next update_

_Please review, and I will update ASAP_

_xBx_


	8. Chapter 7 A Startling Revelation

_A/N: Thank you for all my wonderful reviews, you guys are great :) Knowing that you're all enjoying it, is making writing this story such an enjoyable experience._

_I hope you enjoy the chapter, It's about the same length as the last one - I split it in half, I felt it was perhaps too long in it's original form. Lots of dialogue in this one, especially compared to the others, hope you e__njoy!_

_xBx_

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><p><em>DISCLAIMER: Sadly, I do not own Harry Potter... *sigh*<em>

**~ Chapter ****7: ****A ****Startling ****Revelation ~**  
>Hermione stared at her companion, not knowing what to say, not wanting to believe that Betsy had said what she said, "Wha…what did you say?" Hermione stammered,<p>

Betsy raised an eyebrow, "you heard me right,"

"Ha…how do you….how long…How?" was all Hermione could respond.

Betsy sighed, "Oh where to begin, I didn't know who you were when you first arrived. But when Harry turned up – who wouldn't recognise Harry Potter: the eyes, the scar – only when he called you 'Hermione' did I know who you really were -" Betsy started to explain, Hermione simply gaped at her, words were completely beyond her mental capacity, until Betsy continued "though when you first arrived here you almost fit the image I had of you, it was the hair that stumped me, from what Minerva had once told me -"

"Minerva? Wait, you know Professor McGonagall?" Hermione asked, astounded, finally regaining her speech,

"Of course, she's my aunt" stated Betsy simply

"What?" Hermione had never been so confused in her life. "I'm sorry, but this is just too much information all at once, it doesn't make sense. Explain from the beginning, I want to know everything. Please." Hermione asked, almost pleaded.

Betsy smiled, "of course, but it may take a while, why don't you make another pot of tea before we start,"

Hermione acquiesced to the request, though she thought she might be needing something a little bit stronger than tea _'Why did I never apply for a liquor license'_ she thought to herself. Hermione returned to the table, a large pot of steaming tea in her hand, on her way, she flipped the sign on the door over to 'closed', though it was only 3pm, – this was definitely a talk she didn't want interrupting by straggling customers looking to waste an hour of their monotonous afternoon.

Once she sat down, Hermione asked, determined to get straight down to business: "OK, tell me everything, tell me…" Hermione didn't know where to even begin, all she knew was she needed some sort of information, "everything" she said again, she took a deep breath, willing her thoughts to form some sense of order, "From the very beginning," she continued, "first of all who are you? Are you a witch?"

"No, I'm a, well a squib, I guess" Betsy started, jumping straight into the details. "My mother was a witch, my father a muggle, it was always 50/50 as to whether I'd have magic in my veins, turns out I didn't. I don't suppose you know that Minerva was once married?" Hermione shook her head, her eyes wide, "No, when?"

"Oh, a long time ago, she was married to my mother's brother, so I've known Minerva since I was very young; she and my mother were very close once, as close as sisters. I still keep in contact with her, so I'm always up to date with the main goings on in the Wizarding world." Hermione listened in a complete state of shock; then a thought suddenly occurred, and she asked: "How long have you known who I am?"

"I had my suspicions about you, when you first came here; you had some resemblance to the few pictures I'd seen of you in the Prophet. But I thought it was just a coincidence, and you were so thoroughly….Muggle, that I thought nothing of it, not to mention didn't possess the trademark bushy brown hair. When it came out in the prophet that you had gone missing –"

"It was in the prophet?" Hermione interrupted, shocked her disappearance would make the headlines.

"Of course, you're famous in the Wizarding world, love. One third of 'the Golden Trio' of course your disappearing was published in the news" Hermione felt a slight twinge of guilt about the trouble her disappearance may have caused. "It caused a slight panic, many thought you had been taken, but with no signs of a struggle, and no one claiming any sort of ransom for you, it became widely believed you'd disappeared of your own free will. Messages were still published every once in a while for the first few years, asking if anyone had seen you or asking you to get in contact yourself," Hermione's sense of guilt increased tenfold on hearing that, the guilt showed on her face, so Betsy thought it best to leave that bit of the story alone, at least for now.

"As I was saying," She continued, "when your disappearance was reported, I wondered of you really were, who you said you were. But still you seemed happy and thoroughly muggle, as if you'd never experience magic at all, in you life. Once I got to know you a little better, I started asked about your childhood; you never faltered on your stories, no matter how many times you told them, each time you told them they remained the same, so once again I thought you resemblance was merely a coincidence. I forgot about it, but when you accidentally mentioned honeydukes the other day, it brought all my suspicions back of you're true identity. I was thinking of writing to Minerva, to tell her my suspicions; she still mentions you in her letters every now and then, saying you're still missing. And then Harry Potter showed up. Of course I recognised him right away, who wouldn't? His calling you Hermione confirmed all my suspicions there and then. As soon as I left I sent an owl to Minerva, to tell her you'd been here all along, but don't worry" Betsy added hastily, seeing Hermione's eyes widen, a slight look of fear coming to them, "I told her not to tell anyone else, I was sure you weren't ready for that yet. But I thought she might want to know, I'm sure she's been worrying about you every day since you left."

"Thank you," Hermione breathed in relief, and then remained silent, not knowing what else to say to Betsy. After five minutes, Betsy decided to take control of the situation and ask some rather pressing questions, that she had been wanting to ask for weeks now. Though starting with the least probing questions first.

"What have you done with all your things?" She asked, curiously,

"What do you mean?"

"Well, your school books for example, your robes? Your wand? Everything that ties you to the Magical world, you didn't get rid of them all did you?"

Hermione smiled, "No, I didn't. I couldn't bring myself to do that. They're all boxed up, hidden away. Crookshanks – my cat" she added, when she saw Betsy's forehead wrinkle in confusion at the name, "He's the only link to my past I didn't hide away."

"And you've never looked at any of it, never even taken out your wand in ten years?" Betsy asked, slightly incredulous,

"Not once." Hermione answered simply. "Too many memories, a lot of them too painful" she added quietly,

Betsy nodded slowly, then took a drink of tea, before continuing; getting down to what she really wanted to know, "So, How long have you been in love with Harry Potter?"

Hermione, who had just taken a sip of tea herself, spluttered and nearly choked, spraying the table with tea in a most un-lady-like way, "what?" she gasped, the colour rising in her cheeks.

Betsy sighed, "Oh, my dear. They way you two are with each other, it's plain to anyone how you both feel. We're all wondering when he's coming back, and when you two are finally going to tell each other how you feel"

"We?" asked Hermione, eyebrows raised, and slightly indignant, "You all gossip about me?"

"Of course" Betsy shrugged, "Come on, love, it's a tiny town, gossip is few and far between. We get it where we can, you know that. And you join in plenty of time" Betsy answered with a smile, Hermione rolled her eyes, but smiled,

"I know, but still. It's different when you're the topic" Hermione laughed

Betsy chuckled, and took another drink before continuing,"Do you have any idea when he'll be back?" she asked,

"No, none. He got called away with work. He's not even in the country." She added, and all at once, her concern came rushing back, and Betsy saw it clearly etched on her face.

Betsy sighed, and placed her hand upon Hermione's "Don't worry yourself too much. He's Harry Potter, he defeated he-who-must-not-be-named, he'll be fine." Hermione smiled, and nodded.

"Well dear, time is getting on. I'll leave you to your thoughts – no doubt this conversation has been a bit of a shock to you"

Hermione laughed, "just a tad, yeah."

"I'll let you shut up shop in peace," Betsy rose as she spoke, Hermione looked at her watched and signed, "it's only Half-past four"

"Close up early for once, the weather is miserable today. Take the evening off and pamper yourself, you deserve it. I can see your stressed and worried. Take a long hot bath, try and forget your troubles for a while."

Hermione smiled, "I think I will. See you soon"

"Bye love," Betsy said, as she let herself out. Hermione sighed, and started cleaning down the store, which didn't take long at all considering no one had been in since the morning.

An hour later, Hermione ascended to her flat above the shop, thinking of taking Betsy's advice of taking a long soak. She made sure to feed Crookshanks as soon as she got in – if she ended up spending a few hours in the tub, the last thing she wanted was a hungry, grumpy cat jumping in the water to make a point of making himself remembered: Hermione had made that mistake once before…. never again.

She then trudged up the stairs to her bedroom, stripping off her work clothes, and donning a fluffy bathrobe. She turned to leave, but the half-missing mirror caught her attention. She stared at it for some time, and then went to sit at the foot of her bed, continuing to contemplate it. Hermione wasn't sure what she wanted to do, her past was her past, she had forgotten about it ten years ago, intending to never remember it. But she had never truly forgotten, and now with Harry turning up in her life she remembered everything as clear as crystal. Add onto that, the revelation that her most regular customer – and more than that, Hermione's best friend here in the muggle world – was also immersed in the Wizarding world she had tried to forget; and not forgetting crookshanks' desperate attempt to get back behind the mirror. Hermione could help, that all these things suggested that it might be time to turn back to her past, allow herself the luxury of admitting magic back into her life. But could she do it, or would the memories she had tried so hard to shut out, come back with a vengeance when she did turn back? And if they did, could she handle the emotional pain?

Hermione was so lost in her thoughts, she barely acknowledged the crack that sounded downstairs, which was why she jumped a mile when she heard the oh so familiar voice calling out,

"Hermione? Are you home?"

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><p><em>AN: Well, there you have it. I'll try not to keep you waiting too long, half the next chapter is already written, it just needs finishing off._

_I hope you enjoyed it, please review, it makes me very happy :)_

_xBx_


	9. Chapter 8  Harry's Return

_A/N: Wow, so, I know this update is a little later than I promised, but I've been out of town for a days - so to make it up to you lovely people I have two chapters coming up for you :) I'll admit, not a lot is really happening, but Harry is back - alive and well, so I hope that makes up for it :)_

_Thank you to all my wonderful reviews, I'm thrilled you are all taking such an interest, and are still enjoying the story, I hope you like the next couple of chapters._

_Well, I think I've kept you waiting long enough, so read, review, and most importantly, enjoy :)_

_xBx_

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><p>DISCLAIMER: I own nothing except the plot...it's all the property of JK Rowling<p>

**~ Chapter 8: Harry's Return ~**

Hermione sprang from her bed, and dashed from her room, to look over the banister; "Harry?" She called, wondering if she really had heard his voice; seconds later her emerged from the small kitchen, "Harry!" she said again, louder this time with a smile gracing her lips, as she turned and ran down to him. As she got to the bottom of the stairs, she was fully prepared to throw herself into his arms, but upon seeing him up close she halted, shock crossing her face as she fully took in his appearance,

"My god, what happened to you?" she breathed. Harry's left eye was bruised, and there was a large gash running from his right ear down to his chin.

"What? This?" he asked, motioning to his face, and smiling, "It's nothing….you should have seen it the other day,"

"That's not funny" Hermione stated, with no humour in her voice, "What happened?"

Harry sighed, "It's a long story," Hermione raised an eyebrow, "But I will tell you," Harry hurried to assure her, "Pour some wine, I'll pick up some take out, and I'll tell you everything over dinner. Sound ok to you?"

Hermione smiled "Sounds good." As she made her way to the kitchen she asked, "What were you thinking?" the pair falling into an easy routine, as if this situation occurred every day,

"I know of a good Indian place if you fancy it? Great food, and lots of it"

Hermione took down two glasses, and grabbed a bottle of red from the wine rack, "I could go for Indian. You might want to pick up another bottle of wine, though" she added, "Lots of food and long stories require lots of wine."

Harry smiled, turn on the spot and disapparated. Thirty minutes late the pair were sat on Hermione's rug in front of the fire – Hermione now dressed in a pair of joggers and a fitted t-shirt, a multitude of dishes lining her coffee table, rising a glass of wine,

"Ok" Hermione stated, a slight business-like tone colouring her voice, "I want to know everything, I don't care if its confidential to the ministry, tell me where you've been."

Harry sighed, "ok, where to start" he said, more to himself, he then looked at Hermione, "I suppose I should fill you in a little, about the state of the Wizarding world since you left. Ok, so not long after the funer…after you left" Harry changed halfway through, not wanting to dwell too much on the day of the Weasley boys' funeral, "I joined Kingsley in the ministry, straight into the Auror department. We stated rounding up the stragglers of the death eaters. It was pretty hectic the first couple of years, a lot of them were banding together, trying to claim the title of the new dark force to be reckoned with. But these were all the unknown death eaters, the lowest of his ranks. In fact, hardly any of them were even branded with the mark, so they were less than minions, pretty easy to round up." Harry paused to take something to eat, and take a drink before continuing. "The next few years were pretty quiet – still had lots of work to do, a few felons to trace down here and there. They were bad enough in their own way, but nothing to cause a nationwide panic. Then, about a couple of years ago, we got some reports from overseas: odd disappearances scattered around Europe, that kind of thing. They were all in different countries, but because we've been the only ministry monitoring all these countries as well as our own, we were the only ones to pick up on the potential links between the disappearances. So I went over with a couple of Aurors, we checked out each location, looked into it further. We managed to figure out pretty quick who it was: one of Voldemort's old death eaters – which explains why his power rise was so similar to that of Voldemort, he picked up a lot of tricks. He was pretty unknown, definitely outside Voldemort's inner circle, but he had the mark. He was involved in a lot of Voldemort's doings, but low enough, and anonymous enough, to escape from under our radar." Harry paused again, to pour himself another glass of wine, topping up Hermione's as he did so, and took a long drink,

"But if he was one of the lower ranking Death Eaters" Hermione queried, "How did he know so many of Voldemort's tricks? He wasn't exactly a 'share-and share-alike' kind of guy, if I remember"

Harry laughed, "This guy watched everything, and listened everywhere. But he was smart about it: He never asked anyone anything about what he saw or heard, he just stored the information for a possible future use. and because he kept quiet about the stuff he stumbled on, people assumed he didn't know much about anything - he used to play dumb and they bought it. I can't help thinking he was planning his rise to power for many years."

"Who was he?"

"His name was Skander Xavion – like I said" Harry added, seeing Hermione trying to think if she had heard the name, and coming up with nothing, "completely unknown. It took us over a year, but we managed to find some traces of him – he'd learnt well, but not too well. He managed to cover his tracks pretty well, when he first started gathering followers. But his downfall was not being picky about his followers, and whom he could trust with certain things. He soon lost all his invisibility. When I got called out a month ago, we had positive ID of a number of people we knew to be part of his group; they were seen in a remote part of Russia. We went straight over to set up surveillance. It took a while, but we managed to get access to their meeting place, and we staged a raid." Hermione raised her eyebrows, and her eyes widened at Harry's blasé attitude

"I'm guessing this would be the part in the story that would explain your injuries?"

"Yeah, pretty much. It wasn't a pretty battle, there were a couple of casualties on their side, and a lot of injury on both sides. I think I came away in the best shape to be honest – a black eye, bust lip and a few cracked ribs. But it was a victory, that's what counts"

"Please tell me you went to St. Mungos as soon as you returned"

Harry smiled at the concern, "We had Medi-Wizards back at base, trained specifically to carry out healing on the battlefield. All our magical and life-threatening injuries were taken care of right there. But the bruising is going to take a few days to clear." He smiled then added, "Is my face going to cause quite a stir if I help you out downstairs tomorrow?"

Hermione laughed, "You would probably give a few of the older locals possible heart failure"

"I don't look that bad do I?"

"Well, I've seen you looking a lot worse." Said Hermione, a smile creeping onto her face as she added, "But you do look a bit like a hardened delinquent criminal"

"Thank you," said Harry, trying not to be offended as Hermione laughed,

"Don't worry, I've got some foundation and concealer that can cover it right up"

Harry got up to start clearing the plates, Hermione immediately got up to help, "Not a chance," Harry stated bluntly, "I am not falling for that one again, the Weasley's still rib me about that. So, what's been happening here since I left?" He asked, steering the topic away from make-up. To his surprise Hermione laughed,

"You will not believe it when I tell you."

"What? Surely nothing too scandalous can have happened in this place,"

"It's a good job we have another bottle of wine, this is also a bit of a long story" Hermione said, as she grabbed the second bottle of wine from the counter "You remember Betsy?"

"Yes" Harry said slowly, as he placed the plates into the washing up bowl, and threw their rubbish away,

"Well, she's happens to be the niece of Minerva McGonagall" Hermione stated as she went back to the sitting room and sat down on the sofa,

"What?" Harry simply stared, not knowing where to even begin with that piece of information, Hermione laughed, and patted the sofa,

"Sit down, drink your wine and I'll tell you everything."

Another hour later, another bottle of wine drank, and Harry was completely up to date with Betsy's true identity. As the pair had been talking, they had managed to move closer on the sofa, eventually ending up with Hermione curled up to Harry's side, Harry's arm wrapped around her side, keeping her close.

"So, what made her decide to reveal who she was to you?" asked Harry,

"I don't really know" answered Hermione, "I guess once she knew who I really was it was only a matter of time before she said something. Though, to be honest, I think she was more interested in you"

Harry could here the smile in her voice, as though she was trying not to laugh,

"Are you serious? Should I be scared?"

Hermione laughed aloud at that, "Well, you are the famous Harry Potter, everyone wants to know everything about you. She wanted to know all your dirty secrets, anything I could tell her about your teenage years"

"You're winding me up now aren't you?" asked Harry, hoping he had correctly identified the humour in her voice.

Hermione laughed, "Yes, I'm winding you up." She was silent for a few seconds, then went boldly on, "Though she was interested in your love life."

Harry sighed, "Yeah? Her and every woman in England."

Hermione laughed again, "wow, chill the ego a little bit Harry, otherwise I'll start to think you're really Draco Malfoy using pollyjuice."

"I resent that" he said, as he grabbed her side, just above her waist, which he remembered was the one place she was really ticklish. After earning himself a smack on the chest he continued, "what I meant was, every woman I know has been fixating on the fact that I'm single – and have been for about eight years. They're all wondering who I'm waiting for."

Hermione turned to look at him, "You've been single for eight years?" she asked, slightly incredulous, though at the same time, she felt relief that he hadn't met anyone special since Ginny. Harry nodded, "I know, it's a long time." He paused then asked, "Why? How long have you been single? You are single right?" He asked suddenly realising he had never actually verified this fact, "I'm not about to get my arse kicked by some guy bigger than me, for kissing you the other week am I?"

Hermione laughed, "No, don't worry. There will be no more arse kicking for you," Harry breathed a quiet sigh of relief, before Hermione continued, "I'm not sure how long really. I've been on a few dates here and there over the years. I was seeing someone for a couple of years, but it ended a few years ago. Maybe about three or four years ago? I don;t know, the years are a bit of a blur really" she finished honestly,

Harry was silent for a moment, trying to quell the jealously that had suddenly reared in him, then asked "How come it didn't work out?"

"Truthfully, we moved in here – I know it's pretty small, but I needed to stay here for my business-"

"Understandable," Harry nodded,

"It was fine for a while, but then he wanted to extend the bedroom. He, like you, noticed the odd dimensions, and wanted to open the rest of the room up. I told him flat out it wasn't an option. He got pissed off when I wouldn't tell him fully why, then I caught him one evening, preparing to knock down the wall; he'd taken down the mirror and he was trying to pick the lock of the door he'd uncovered - "

Harry sucked in his breath, "poor guy," he said "I can only begin to imagine the wrath he was exposed to. I bet he never recovered"

Hermione laughed, and blushed a little, "Yeah, he left that night and never returned."

"At least he didn't get through door: I doubt he would have survived your anger if he had actually found all your stuff from your past." Harry said, without thinking, "And explaining a magic wand would have taken some doing" He added. Hermione pulled herself away from Harry and turned to face him,

"What..? How did you..? Why do you think that's what's behind…?"

"What else could it be?" Hermione didn't answer, "Come on Hermione, I know you better than you think. You belong in the magical world, you know you do, and I know that whatever you may have convinced yourself into believing now, you know you will always belong there. There are too many memories, too many happy memories, tied to all your possessions. There is no way you would have got rid of them. You couldn't. You could just hide them from view, and pretend to forget. But I can see it in your eyes, you haven't forgot. And I think you know it's time to stop pretending."

As if on cue, a large crash of breaking glass echoed down from Hermione's room, causing Harry to add, "And apparently Crookshanks feels the same."

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><p><em>AN: And there is chapter 8, I hope you liked it, Chapter 9 will be up in approximately 15 minutes :D_

xBx


	10. Chapter 9  The Past is Catching Up

_A/N: As promised, Chapter 9 up almost straight away - Enjoy :)_

xBx

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><p>DISCLAIMER: I own nothing...<p>

**~ Chapter 9 – The Past is Catching Up ~**

Hermione was torn between anxiety over the turn in the conversation, and annoyance at that damn cat destroying her mirror – which happened to be an antique. Annoyance won out in the end. Hermione turned and, breathing deeply, almost pounded up the stairs – Harry following close behind.

Hermione's Bedroom floor was now covered in shards of glass, "Crookshanks!" Hermione wailed, "That was an antique!"

"I can fix it if you want" Harry asked, his wand in his hand, "Or better yet, you could"

Hermione turned on him, "This is not the time, Harry"

"Au contraire" He said, walking toward the mirror, as Hermione mumbled, "oh, now we're talking French? I can speak French too, merde tete"

Harry turned and frowned, "Seriously? Swearing at me in French? how sophisticated. Anyway" he added, turning back to the mirror he lifted the frame slightly, and began to slide the mammoth antique along the wall, revealing an old wooden door.

"Interesting" he said, examining it, "This looks original," he turned to Hermione, who was now stood in the doorway, arms folded, glaring at Harry, and clearly chewing her tongue to stop herself muttering the obscenities he knew were running through her head right now. He smiled at her, causing her to scowl even more, "Was this wall here when you moved in?"

Hermione took a deep breath, "yes," she answered shortly through clenched teeth, she then sighed and unfolded her arms, continuing in a more normal tone, "I guess it was some sort of dressing room/ wash room and walk in wardrobe, type thing."

Harry nodded, "And the key?"

Hermione shook her head, "Harry, I don't think I can -"

Harry smiled and walked back over to her, "All I'm asking is if you still have the key,"

"Yes I do, it's locked in my bedside drawer"

Harry raised his eyebrow, "I don't know why I'm surprised, you never do things by halves. And the key to that?" he asked, Hermione looked at him, then pulled out the chain she always wore around her neck, "here" she said, revealing a small silver key dangling from the chain.

Harry nodded, "okay," he said, "lets start taking baby steps."

Hermione looked at him, slightly confused, "What do you mean?"

"Open the drawer," he said simply, "just open the drawer, and take out the other key – you don't have to use the other key," he added, sensing her slight alarm, "just take it out of the drawer."

"Harry, no" she said shaking her head, "it's too much too soon, just leave it alright,"

Harry ran his hand through his hair, Hermione didn't understand why he was getting so frustrated, "Fine" he said admitting defeat, "Fine" he repeated, side-stepping around here to leave.

Hermione turned, "Harry, wait -"

"What?" He said, turning at the top of the stairs, "Don't tell me not to push you, you said that when I first got here, three months ago. Three months Hermione and I haven't said anything to you about coming back to us or about taking out your wand, or anything of the like. But you can't hide forever, and I know you know that. Hiding all your things away is just a way for you to not have to deal with what happened, but you have to deal with it. You can't move on with your life if you don't -"

"It's been ten years Harry, I have a life, I have a business, I think I've moved on-"

"Bullshit!" Harry shouted, finally losing his patience "If you had truly moved on, and accepted the past, you would be back in the wizarding world where you belong, you would be back with me, and with everyone else you left behind: the people who worry about you constantly. You have to deal with the past, Hermione you have to! Otherwise you're not going to be happy. You need to accept, and move on, so you can let yourself love again."

"Love again?" Hermione answered back, her temper starting to rise, "That's rich coming from you, living as a bachelor for the past eight years, when was the last time you loved somebody?"

"I'm not alone because I don't allow myself to fall in love. I'm alone because the woman I'm in love with refuses to see reason and come out of hiding!" he yelled. Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath, slightly regretting his last comment, then continued in a voice of forced calmness, "I'm going to go home, it's late, and I need to be in the office early tomorrow."

"Ok" Hermione answered quietly, "Will I see you tomorrow?" she asked, looking down at her feet, not wanting to meet his eye, slightly confused by his last statement.

Harry sighed, stepped over to her and hugged her briefly, "probably, god knows I can't seem to stay away. I've been away from you for too long" he then lightly kissed her on her head, before stepping back, and disapparating before she could lift up her eyes.

####

Harry appeared in his kitchen at Grimmauld Place and immediately aimed a frustrated kick at the nearest chair, letting out a grunt of frustration at the same time,

"Bad day?" came a voice from the other end of the table; Harry tuned toward the voice, and saw George Weasley leaning back, his chair on two legs, with his hands clasped behind his head, looking thoroughly at ease with the world. "Christ, George, you scared the crap out of me,"

"You made it back from Russia alive then?" George said, then upon seeing Harry's face, he let the chair back onto four legs and leaned forward, "Jesus, Harry, what happened to you face?"

"Rough arrest," Harry said bluntly, as he sat down and summoned a bottle of firewhiskey and a couple of glasses from the pantry, "Drink?" he offered, ass the items landed in front of him,

"I won't say no to that," Grinned George, "When did you get back?" he asked as Harry poured, and passed him a drink.

"This morning, went straight into the ministry to fill in all the paperwork, and write out a report, then went up to Whitby."

"You've been going up there a lot," George commented, then asked "come on, spill the beans, what's going on? Clearly something happened to piss you off. woman trouble?" he joked,

Harry laughed humourlessly, "too right. Eugh, I probably should have mentioned it sooner, but I didn't want to push anything. I found Hermione." He stated, causing George to spray his firewhiskey across the table,

"What?" he gasped, "How long have you know where she was?"

"I found her about three months ago,"

"And you didn't think to mention it? Mum and Ginny are still beside themselves with worry about her. We all are, actually, and it would have been nice to be told she was alive and safe, for God's sake"

"I know, but it's complicated. She thinks she's a bloody muggle for God's sake, I had to be careful what I said and did"

"What do you mean, she thinks she's a muggle?"

"she's locked all her stuff away, her wand and everything. She's been acting as if she never went to Hogwarts, as if none of it ever happened"

"Sounds healthy," said George,

"She's all right, I guess. She's got her own business, and seems happy enough with it. She's just been in denial for the better part of ten years."

"Have you told her you're in love with her yet" He asked, bluntly. Harry looked up, and glared across the table, George held up his hands in surrender, "too soon? Ok I'll back off"

Harry sighed, "It's not that, I can't tell her that, she'd freak out. She clearly hasn't got over what happened ten years ago, and until she does, she can't move on." Harry was quiet for a minute, then continued with what was really pressing on his mind, "And she was sort of dating Ron when he died. He was my best mate. Just having feelings for his girl is like betraying his memory, but _telling_ his girl I'm in love with her? I might as well piss on his gravestone"

George snorted, "Eloquent, but at least you're admitting your feelings now. That's a start. Look, Harry, Ron was my brother, I miss him, but I know he would have wanted you to be happy, Hermione as well."

"He wanted me to make his sister happy – He expected us to be together, I knew that" Harry countered "and failed him on that one,"

"What are you talking about, Ginny _is _happy; a lot happier now than she was with you. No offence, mate" he added quickly,

"None taken" Harry smiled, "I know you're right, she's a lot happier now. But what if Ron was still here, if Hermione had stuck around?"

"That's a moot point so there's no point even thinking of it. And if I'm honest with you Harry, I don't think it would have made much difference. I don't think Ron and Hermione would have been happy together for long, they spent far too much time arguing. And I know Ginny's temper – as much as she loves Hermione, I think she would have got pretty jealous pretty quick at how close you and Hermione really were. I've known you and Hermione since your first year at Hogwarts, I've seen you grow up together. You were always minutes ahead of Ron, you two could share a thought by just looking at each other. Ron and Ginny could never compete with that, and I think deep down they both knew that. The trouble was you two. For two people so in-tune with each other, you and Hermione were incredibly dense about your feelings"

Harry sat in silence, contemplating what George had just told him. After five minutes, George spoke; "I ought to head off; I'm going to call in at my mother's and then at Ginny's. They ought to know you found Hermione,"

Harry nodded, "You're right, they should know. But maybe don't let on I've known for months – I've experienced an howler from your Mother once before, admittedly it wasn't actually directed at me, but I have no desire to repeat the experience"

"I'll have a go, I've kept enough secrets from my Mother to be good at it. But Ginny, She sees right through me, so prepare for her wrath. Oh, and a heads up, mum will be pestering you from now on to get her down here for Christmas?"

Harry laughed, as George turned on the spot and disapparated. Wondering whom he had gone to first, Harry took his drink upstairs and settled into the first floor drawing room, and sat lost in thought gazing into the fire. He was startled from his thoughts by a persistent tapping at the window; getting up, he saw Errol on the window ledge, a letter in His beak – Apparently George had gone to his mother's first. Harry opened the window with slight trepidation, but was relieved to see a normal roll of parchment in the bird's beak – thanking god it wasn't red. Unrolling it he read Mrs Weasley's hurried note:

_Harry,_

_George just told me the wonderful news, I'm so glad you finally found Hermione, and that she is well. When is she coming back? You have told her to come back haven't you? And you must make her come here for Christmas. I don't like the idea of her up there in Yorkshire all alone - I want the whole family together again. But I expect you to bring her around before then Harry, tell her we want to see her, and that we miss her terribly, _

_ Love Molly,_

_ Xxx_

Harry smiled, at least he had this in writing, it might help him illustrate to Hermione just how much she had been missed – he was willing to try anything to get her back. Thinking is was about time he got some rest, he got up to leave the room, but was blocked by Ginny, who suddenly apparated into the doorway with a 'crack' – the look on her face told him in one second that George had told her everything, and he was in trouble –

"3 Months?" She seethed, her voice was barely louder than a whisper,

Harry looked sheepish, "George told you that bit then?"

"This isn't funny, Harry! We've been worried for sick for ten years! And you've known she is fine for three months!" it was at this point Ginny started hitting Harry – and being an active Quidditch player she was strong, despite her recent time off, "and I'm seven months pregnant, in case you hadn't noticed, and I should not be subjected to this kind of emotional stress." she finished, taking a deep calming breath.

"Are you finished? Can I explain myself? Hermione wasn't ready to come back when I first found her. Truth be told, I still don't think she's fully ready, but she's getting there. And I didn't want to tell you all, until I knew I would be able to bring her back."

"How is she?" Ginny asked, her voice at normal range again,

"She's ok, I guess. She's happy, she has her own business, a coffee shop and bookstore in one."

Ginny laughed, "That is so Hermione. When will we see her?"

"Soon, I promise. Or I promise to try at any rate. But I'm determined to have her back fro Christmas, if only to appease your mother"

"Sorry for bursting in on you, by the way. But I had to yell at you, get it out my system. It's the hormones. I should go"

"Incidentally, should you be apperating in your condition?" Harry asked, eying Ginny's large stomach,

"Probably not" she scowled, "see you later," she then disappeared with another loud crack, leaving Harry alone again. He shook his head, Ginny had a temper at the best of times, but pregnant Ginny? Nothing was equal to it.

####

Hermione lifted her head but Harry had already gone. That was not quite the reunion she had been expecting; what had started of as a fun and relaxed evening, had turned sour, quickly. Hermione turned back to her room, she had no energy to clear up the glass but knew that if she didn't she would no doubt walk on it in the morning. After vacuuming up the multitude of debris, she flopped down on her bed, not bothering to get undressed, willing sleep to overtake her, and allow her mind to shut off for a few hours.

No such luck: instead, Hermione spent a good couple of hours tossing and turning, replaying Harry's last comments before he left, particularly fixating on her not accepting and moving on. Finally she admitted he was right. She hadn't really moved on, and until she faced her past, she never would. Sighing, she rose from bed, and pulled the chain from around her neck. She unlocked her bedside drawer for the first time in ten years, and took out an old brass key, then walked over to the door, still exposed. After staring at the door for five minutes she turned and decided another glass of wine was needed, even if it was just an excuse to try and put off the inevitable. Two minutes later she was back in front of the door, wine glass in hand. She took a deep breath, followed by a large gulp of wine to calm the nerves, then went to the door: she put the key in the lock, turned it, and opened the door for the first time in ten years.

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><p><em>AN: So there you have it. Sorry again for the delay, but I hope you guys enjoyed the double update. I'm working on Chapter 10 right now, and you'll be happy to know that Harry and Hermione are finally going to start acting in their feelings :) And we shall be seeing more of the Weasleys from now on :) I'll hopefully update by the beginning of next week, but until then, please review :)_

_Thank you for reading,_

_xBx_


	11. Chapter 10 Beyond the Wall

_A/N: Finally, I am back! I'm so sorry I made you wait so long for an update, but I got sidetracked by two separate brainwaves for two more different fanfics (one of which I've started writing and will be posted soon). But now I am back and fully committed to seeing this one to the end :)_

_Thank you to all my wonderful reviews, I'm glad you're enjoying it so far - and also thank you to those of you who are pointing out my mistakes, I really appreciate it, you are helping me become a better writer, so keep it up :)_

_Hope you like the update,_

_xBx_

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><p><strong>DISCLAIMER: I don't own jack...or harry for that matter. All belongs to JKR :)<strong>

**~ Chapter 10: Beyond the Wall ~**

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Hermione stepped over the threshold and back into her past; and thanks to the preservation charm Hermione had cast, everything was untouched and unchanged after ten years. To her left, a rail ran from one end of the small room to the other, on which hung her school robes and dress robes, on the wall opposite rested her school trunk, on top of which laid the small blue sequin bag Hermione had carried around the country in the hunt for Horcruxes. She was thankfully distracted from the sight by Crookshanks, who at that moment brushed past Hermione and launched himself into the luxurious, Gryffindor inspired, cat bed that sat next to the trunk. As the cat curled up and purred in contentment, Hermione couldn't help but smile, and felt a slight twinge of guilt at taking away his favourite bedding – though in her defence, she did buy him an equally luxuriant, and slightly bigger bed to make up for it, but the damned cat just did not like change. To Hermione's right was a large sized bookcase on which were all the books she had accumulated over her years at Hogwarts – from schoolbooks to giant tombs she had purchased whenever a particular topic had taken her fancy, and she had craved more information. At the end of this bookcase was a table, under which sat her cauldron (still full of a selection of potion ingredients). On top of the table sat her scales and other instruments she had used in her education, and there at the front sat her wand, wrapped carefully in the box in which she had bought it. She didn't feel quite ready to pull out her wand just yet, so she turned to examine the books on her right. Immediately the first book she had read after her first trip to Diagon Alley caught her eye, smiling to herself and thinking she may as well start from the beginning, she took down 'Hogwarts: A History' and turned. Leaving the door open, she went back to her bed, and began to read, only stopping when her eyes closed as sleep finally overtook.

####

The next day Hermione awoke early, having had the best night's sleep she'd had for a long time; making the most of her extra hour, she went for a run along the beach front – something she hadn't had the energy to do for nearly five years. She was therefore absent, when Harry dropped in, hoping to catch her before opening up. He apparated into the kitchen, as was his custom, expecting to see her sat at the small dining table, with her morning cup of tea and a slice of toast – the girl still hadn't changed her morning routine since she was at Hogwarts. When he found the downstairs deserted he braved investigating her room, reaching the top of the stairs, he saw her room door was open and didn't hesitate to continue in. He smiled, and a look of triumph clouded his eyes for a second, when he notice the door he'd revealed last night standing fully open,

"Hermione?" He called, though he'd been calling her for five minutes already, so he hardly expected a response. He looked around him, upon seeing the book on her nightstand, he laughed and picked it up, " 'Hogwarts: A History' " he chuckled, "she never changes." He replaced the book and walked through to the hidden room; looking around himself, he couldn't help but be amazed at how clean the room was – considering the place had been locked and left alone for ten years, he had expected some sign of neglect, lots of dust, perhaps a few cobwebs. He advanced to the rear of the room, and pulled out the cauldron from under the table, inspecting the ingredients within,

"How are they still fresh?" Harry asked aloud, taking out a bag and opening it to look at the contents,

"Preservation Charm" Hermione said from the doorway, causing Harry to jump a mile, dropping the bag in his hand, the contents of which spilt everywhere,

"Seriously?" said Hermione, folding her arms across her chest as she leaned into the doorframe, "First you're snooping in my bedroom, then you make a mess doing it?"

"Erm, I can explain…" Harry stuttered, finally looking up to meet Hermione's eyes, he was surprised to see her smiling,

"It's fine Harry, just make sure you clean it up before I get back from the shower"

"You're not mad?" He asked, wary of the temper he'd experienced in the past few months, Hermione sighed,

"No, and I owe you an apology. You were right,"

"I was? About what?"

"About me hiding from my past. I never really dealt with it. You were right." Harry remained silent, not really knowing what to say, Hermione rolled her eyes, "Go ahead, you can gloat. You were right, I was wrong. You are entitled to say 'I told you so'."

Harry grinned, but refrained, and instead asked, "How come you're up so early, where did you go?"

"I just had the best nights sleep I've had in a long time – I'm guessing facing my past lifted a lot of my subconscious worries – or some psycho-babble like that. Either way, I woke this morning unbelievably refreshed, and took advantage of the clear weather, and went for a run along the beach. And now I'm going to go shower before opening up, I'm running a little late," she added, checking her clock,

"I can make a start downstairs if you'd like," Harry offered,

"With a face like that? I don't think so. I don't want the few customers I have being scared away." She turned to leave, "Don't forget to clean up my ingredients," she reminded him.

Thirty minutes later, Harry had cleaned up his mess (with magic – he figured Hermione wouldn't mind.) and Hermione was downstairs, about to open up, and let in the first customer of the day. Harry had left fifteen minutes before, calling up to Hermione (who was still getting dressed), telling her he would call in later.

When Betsy entered, she immediately took in Hermione's lifted spirits,

"Ahhh, so the wanderer has returned then?" Betsy asked, sitting at her usual table,

"What do you mean?" Hermione questioned, then asked, "You're usual?"

"Yes please, dear. I was trying to say, judging by the definite upturn in your spirits, Harry returned safe and sound, I'm guessing?"

"Am I really that transparent?" Hermione laughed, as she made up a pot of tea, "But, yes, Harry returned last night" she confirmed, tray-ing up Betsey's tea things and taking it over to the table, "But I think the upturn in my spirits is more to do with the night's sleep I had last night"

"Oh really?" Questioned Betsy, with a sly smile, "I can imagine what might result in a good nights sleep" she said with a wink, causing Hermione to blush,

"Honestly, Betsey, it was nothing like that. We talked, and that's it."

"Mmhmm." Said Betsey,

"No gossiping, if you please," Said Hermione, "Me and Harry are friends, we talked. We had dinner, and he told about his work, and what he'd been doing the past month. And we'll leave it at that."

"Fine dear," Betsey accepted, "Just don't wait too long to make a move, the man won't wait forever."

For the rest of the day, whenever there was a lull in custom (which happened to be fairly often with it being mid-November), Hermione couldn't but ponder Betsey's words, and began to try and figure out just how true Betsey's suspicions were. She couldn't deny that having Harry back in her life had made her happier than she had been in years. And she also couldn't deny there was a definite physical attraction. But pinning down the extent of her actual emotional attachment was proving slightly more difficult: she missed him when he went away for longer than a day; she would get a fluttering in her stomach if he accidentally brushed passed her; if he ever touched her, held her hand, or gave her a hug, his tough would send tingles up her spine. But that didn't necessarily mean that she was in love with him…. did it?

Hermione still hadn't to fully answer these questions before her day was over, Harry turned up at 6:30pm, punctual as usual, though he was laden down with paperwork – Hermione came upstairs at 6:45pm to find he had overtaken her small kitchen table, papers covering every inch of it, as well as being piled on every chair.

"I take it I'm eating on the sofa tonight then?" Hermione said as she walked toward the kitchen. Harry looked up, looking slightly guilty, "I'm sorry, I got handed these when I was about to leave the office – this is the downside of heading the Auror division, lots of reports to read, then summarise into a Monthly report to the head of Magical Law Enforcement. I can move it all if you want?"

"Don't worry about it, I'll be fine for one night" she said while pouring herself a glass of wine, "You want to stay for dinner?" she asked, "Wine?" She added turning to look at him and then noticing the full wine glass in his hand, and the sheepish expression on his face, "I see you already helped yourself."

"Yeah, and dinner is in the oven, by the way. Lasagne" he added when Hermione turned and looked into her stove,

"Did you move in?" Hermione laughed, "But thank you. Looks good,"

"I can't take credit, Molly made me it." He admitted "She dropped it round while I was out this afternoon: apparently I looked peaky the other night. Another ten minutes it should be fully heated through."

Hermione nodded, not really sure what to say in response to the mention of Molly's name. "erm, How….how is Molly? And the others?" she asked quietly, not meeting Harry's eyes, the guilt starting to make it's way into her stomach,

"She's good. They're all good." He said simply, "The know that I've found you." He stated, Hermione's eyes snapped up to look at Harry, who could see the guilt and panic swirling in their depths, "I didn't tell them where you were. But they want to see you" he told her, not daring to show any emotion,

"I wouldn't know what to say" Hermione panicked, "I know they'll have been worried about me-"

"Do you?" Harry countered, "Do you really know that? Do you know what happened after you left? Do you really know how widely your disappearance was reported?" Harry asked, scepticism colouring his tone,

"Yes, I know I was reported missing - " Hermione started,

"And you still stayed away?" Harry almost yelled, "are you seriously that selfish?"

"I know because Betsy told me. Yesterday." Hermione countered, once again not looking at Harry, so he wouldn't see the tears starting to form, or the hurt and anger creeping into her eyes, "I didn't know at the time, I wasn't thinking at the time – and I know that is no excuse" she raised her voice, stopping Harry from interrupting "I'm not saying what I did was right, but at the time, I didn't know what else to do. And by the time I had managed to get my thoughts back on track, by the time I managed to think clearly about my actions, I was settled here, and I'd been away for so long that I was scared about coming back. I knew you would all be angry with me, because you had every right to be. And I was scared to face that anger. And the longer I left it the harder it got. So I took the cowardly way out, I am aware of that, and yes, that may be selfish of me. But if you want to talk about selfish, maybe we should also talk about you-"

"Excuse me?" Harry said, standing up and walking round to face Hermione, "I'm selfish? What the hell have I done?"

"Yes, you have been a little bit selfish. Ever since you got here you have been wanting to get me to come back with you. To leave this place behind, and return to London, to go back to the magical world,"

"Because it's where you belong!"

"ten years ago yes! But not now, not completely, this is my life now. And you asking me to give it all up is selfish!"

"This was a distraction!"

"To start with yes! But not now, I am happy, and I cannot give it up, not now. I am accepting the past, like you asked me too. I am letting magic back into my life, like you asked me to! I am thinking about coming back to London, about contacting the Weasleys, and our friends, like you asked me to! But I am not giving up my life here. That is too much. And it is selfish for you to keep asking it of me!"

Harry and Hermione stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, before Hermione turned, "If we don't serve this lasagne now it's going to burn."

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><p><em>AN: Okay, so I know that their relationship isn't moving very fast, I'm not meaning to draw it out, I just feel that Hermione has a lot if issues she needs and admitting her feelings is very hard. But it's moving, and next chapter will be a definite move along, and this time I promise the next update will be along soon. promise._

_so R&R please :) let me know what you think :)_

_xBx_


	12. Chapter 11  Opening Up

_A/N: Hey guys! So So So sorry for the delay - my life took over slightly, I have a new job, but I've finally finished the next chapter. A huge thank you to everyone who has read so far, and who has taken the time to review. I'm loving all the feedback so keep it coming._

_Anywho, I think you've waited long enough, I hope you enjoy,_

_xBx_

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><p><em>DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. That is all.<em>

**~ Chapter 11: Opening Up ~**

Harry sighed, and walked up behind Hermione. Silently he wrapped his arms around her as she placed the lasagne down on the cooker-top, holding her close he sighed, "I'm sorry" He whispered, "I didn't stop to think about your life here. But I went through a lot trying to find you – we all did. It hasn't been easy,"

"I'm sorry too," Hermione whispered, placing her arms across Harry's "We need to talk. Properly, Clearly we both have a lot of things we need to say to each other. We have to stop walking on eggshells."

"I can do that. Can you?"

"I'll have to. I'll tell you everything, what was going through my head when I left, why I thought it was right to leave, and what I did when I left. And you can ask me anything you want."

"And I will tell you everything that happened after you left. Everything, and if you don't feel guilty about leaving us without a word now, you will do when you know what the effect has been. I don't mean that in a nasty, spiteful way. Just that I know you, and I'm not going to water down the details for you. I can't if we have any chance of moving on from this."

"Okay." Hermione took a deep breath, "okay," she repeated. "Lets eat. And we'll talk."

Fifteen minutes later, Harry had cleared the table, and the pair were sat down facing each other, plates loaded with lasagne, wine glasses full, with a bottle of wine an a basket of bread sitting between them. A few moments of silence passed, before Harry finally broke it,

"Are you going to talk anytime soon?"

"I'm finding the right place to start:" Hermione assured him, "Everything happened so fast, all at once." Hermione took a deep breath, and began her narrative,

"I used to try and not think about our futures after the war, but I couldn't help it. I never knew if we were going to make it out alive, but I always liked to think we would. So whenever I let my mind slip, and I thought about life after the war, I saw you married to Ginny, and Myself married to Ron. I saw us having kids, the whole humdrum life-

"Then Ron died, and my future died with him, I didn't know what to do next. But the one thought that got me through it, was the thought of my parents returning. I was so positive I had done everything to keep them safe. I knew they would be returning anytime soon, and when they had settled back in, I would have people to help me through this – I knew I could get through anything with my parents by my side, and that one day, I would be able to see a different future again- But at that moment, at the funeral, all I could see was the rest of that day, I couldn't see tomorrow, or the day after. It's like it was a void, like that day was never going to end, I couldn't see how to move on. I was waiting for my parents; I knew they would be able to make it all OK-

"Then the Ministry official turned up, and told me my parents had died. In that moment I panicked. I couldn't think, I felt like I was suffocating, like the wizarding world had taken everything from me, and now it was trying to take me too. I realise that sounds crazy, but I don't know how else to describe it – I panicked, I felt like I needed to escape. Originally, I only planned to go away for a little while, a week or so, maybe a month, just to try and come to terms, to try and grieve, and move on. I just needed space to clear my head. So I ran out, without a word –I figured you knew be me well enough, that I'd gone for peace and quiet, and that I would be back in a few weeks. I expected to be back in a few weeks, I planned to come back truly I did. I don't know when I changed my mind, or what changed my mind, but something did.

"I didn't come here strait away, I travelled...well everywhere really: I went to Ireland first, went all around the southern coast on horseback – I know that sounds incredibly stupid, but it was something my mother had always wanted to do, I used to tell her it would take too long, that it wasn't practical, that we weren't living in the 18th century. But she was determined. I don't know what made me want to do it, I can't remember my rationalisations at that time, but I did it. It took a month, I went along the coast line, on country roads, sometimes I had to go further inland to get away from major traffic, stopping in little villages, in B&B's or houses with stable facilities. It was like another life. And I thrived on that–

"I ignored everything that had happened, it was as if my life, before the funeral, and my life after the funeral we two different lives. And this life, the after-life, it was pain free, it was worry free, and I needed that for a little bit longer. But I knew that I couldn't escape it forever, and in the back of my mind I knew I needed to try and face it. Which is why I came here - you know I used to come here all the time with my parents, when I was young, I thought this would help me face it, make me think about my parents. But when I got here, for the first time in seven years, the place had changed, it wasn't like I remembered, and I couldn't see my parents here, which made it easy to not think about them - I couldn't see them here, it was as if they had never been here-

"Once I got here I didn't want to leave. I saw this place was for sale, I had my trust fund money, which covered the asking price, and I still had money left over to do the place out. It was perfect for realising my childhood dream, so I went with it. The place was mine by the end of the week. I magicked up a few documents – muggle exam results and such, so that I would be able to have the right credentials to start up my own business – it was after that, that I stopped using magic; it felt good to have to work hard to get end results, instead of using magic. Doing everything the muggle way was somewhat therapeutic, it kept my mind and body busy, left little or no time to think-

"That's when I locked away all my school things, all my wizarding books, and my wand, in the closet-room. This place took a while, but after six months of paperwork pushing and constant renovating I had my business and my home. The time passed more quickly than I was aware of, I didn't give a thought about it, I just lived day by day, but once I got this place ready to open, I realised how long I had been gone, and I thought of contacting you, of coming back, but there was still a lot to do here, I wasn't sure if I could leave for a few days without any consequences - and, to tell the truth, I was scared of going back-

"So I left it. Every Christmas I thought about you all, every year on your birthday, on Ginny's birthday, I thought about going back, but the longer I left it the harder it was. I was scared, and I took the easy way out, I always found an excuse to not go. I buried my head in the sand. And somewhere down the line, I actually became happy here. So now it became even harder to leave, to go back, because I knew you would all want me to stay, and I couldn't. I can't, somewhere down the line this became more than a distraction, I enjoy this, I enjoy having my own business, I love it. And I can't give it up-

"I want to be part of your life, I want to be a part of Ginny's life again, I want to see the Weasleys again. But I can't give up my life here, it's…..it's my life. And it scares me that you want me to leave it behind. I was so thrilled that you walked back into my life when you did, but it scared me that the first thing you asked me to do was leave with you. I was so happy that you stayed, I was so happy that I got to know you again, but I couldn't let myself feel everything I wanted to feel, what I want to feel, because I was scared you would ask me to leave it all again. I need a compromise. I need you to help me compromise, I want you to think about, and accept a compromise."

Hermione became silent, she wasn't aware how long she had been talking, it was hard when she started, her sentences were disjointed, and stuttered, but the more she talked, the easier it was to keep going, and she felt relieved to finally tell Harry, to explain to someone, everything that had happened. But as her narrative came to the end, she found her words becoming disjointed once more, unsure as how best to describe he feelings and her wants at this moment in time, and she decided to quit before saying something senseless and confusing.

Harry sat and listened to her in silence, never interrupting her. Their plates were empty now, and Harry had kept the wine topped up throughout Hermione's speech, he took a sip of his drink, not sure how to start, his own promised narrative, nor how much of his own feelings he should tell her right away:

"I, erm….I never realised how attached you were to this place, I'm sorry about that. But if I'm to be truly honest with you, I was angry at you for leaving, angry at you for staying away, and I was angry at this place, for keeping you away." He started truthfully,

"When you left, you were able to forget, but you must know that we stayed behind with the constant reminders, and it was a very hard few months. And it didn't get much easier." Harry took a deep breath before continuing, recounting the events starting from her disappearance

"I was the one who noticed you had gone: I came to find you in early in the morning, I needed to talk to you, because I felt like I was intruding on the family grief. You were the one person who I could talk to. I did think you would come back soon enough, I knew you would have gone away to get some perspective, like you said, I trusted you would come back in a few weeks. I didn't say anything to anyone for a few hours, until they too had noticed you were gone, and then I covered for you: I told them all you needed some space, some time to come to terms with the death of your parents. I told them you'd be back in a few weeks, never thinking for a moment that you would never come home-

"A few weeks went by and you didn't come back. Another month went, and still you didn't come back. That's when we started to worry, and also when the Ministry got wind of your disappearance – they'd been trying to get in contact with you about joining the Magical Law Enforcement department, when they didn't hear anything back, they asked me if I knew where you were, I couldn't lie anymore, and I was getting worried myself-

"They arranged a search, which turned up nothing – of course by now you would have been here, with a new identity and a new look. The Daily Prophet got wind, and all sorts of stories started circulating, thinking you'd been taken by force, a possible act of revenge, but no body was ever found, and it soon became public knowledge that you had disappeared of your own choice. Of course, the fact that you never returned was always worrisome, and after the horror story theories printed in the prophet, every single one of us couldn't help but think that maybe something had happened to you" Harry paused to take another sip of wine, Hermione shifted uncomfortably in her seat at the thought of how much worry she had actually caused,

"I started to look for you; I was looking for you before the Ministry stepped in of course, and I continued to look for you after they had stopped - in fact once they stopped, I started looking for you more. Every spare minute I had was spent trying to figure where you would go, and when I had a weekend or a week spare, I would go trawling the country looking for any possible signs of you - suffice to say Ginny wasn't too pleased-

"Don't get me wrong" Harry added, hastily, "She was just as worried about you as I was, and she wanted to find you as much as I did. But the fact I spent every spare waking moment in search of you, instead of trying to fix our relationship, didn't go down to well with her. Our relationship went sour pretty much right after you left. We argued a lot, but we stayed together, because everyone expected us to be together, everyone thought we belonged together-

"But it wasn't working. We were both changed by the war – we both realised certain things about ourselves. We stayed together more out of habit than anything else. The Holyhead Harpies recruited Ginny, I was inducted strait into the Auror department, our jobs took up a lot of time, which pushed our relationship even more into the background-

"Our relationship was over long before we actually ended things, but we were able to ignore our issues for a while, as our new careers took off. But in the end we both knew whom I really wanted to be with. It wasn't long after our split that she met Robert, he's a player on another team, they had a lot in common, he's a couple of years older – he went to Hogwarts, but he was a 'claw, so we never really crossed paths. But he's a good guy, they started hanging out a lot, he gave her the attention she didn't get from me - the attention she deserved. And she's happy, so I'm happy for her. And I'm glad she could move on-

"And in truth it was a relief, I didn't have to feel guilty for being continually absent. And I could finally fully accept and admit to myself what everyone else had known for years - that I'm in love, and I have been for as long as I can remember." Harry finished; he'd found it surprisingly easy to keep going once he had started talking, and before he knew what he was saying, he was'declaring himself', not something he'd been planning to do.

Hermione was at a loss for words, trying to process what Harry had said: a knowledge of his feelings intensified her sense of guilt, as it obviously intensified the amount of hurt she had actually caused him – all these years she had pictured him happy with Ginny, barely missing her absence, in truth it had been just the opposite. It also made her question the extent of her own feelings - she was beginning to realise that she was in fact in love with Harry Potter, but she was yet unsure as to how long she had been in love with him,

She looked up, but instead of declaring herself to him, she managed to ask: "So, where do we go from here?"

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><p><em>AN: Ok, so I know there was a lot of dialogue...or rather two pretty long monologues, but the next couple of chapters will see the story moving along. As you may have figured out, in the story we're now into the beginning of December - so the next couple of chapters will be a little bit Christmassy :) so I will try very hard to get them up by Christmas eve at the latest :)_

_Hope you enjoyed, please review, and I'll be posting soon _

xBx


	13. Chapter 12  Moving Forward

_A/N: Hello! and Merry Christmas to you all! This is the first, slightly Christmassy chapter, Chapter 13 will be the main Christmas one. I will try and get that up ASAP, but it may be a couple of days. I hope you enjoy,_

_As some of you may have noticed - and as one person has told me - I have married off Ginny to two different people - oops - At the beginning of the story I had her married to Neville, that was my original plot, and as I have continued through on this re-write, it just seemed as if that scenario has become less and less plausible. so I'm sorry to any Ginny/Neville shippers, but I have changed the beginning, and decided to go with the Quidditch player._

_And now, onto the story please enjoy, and if you have the time review :D_

_xBx_

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><p><em>DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter and all related characters belong to JKR<em>_  
><em>

**~ Chapter 12: Moving Forward ~**

Harry stared, from looking at Hermione's calm expression, he started to wonder if she'd actually heard him say 'I love you', but the confusion and wariness in her eyes implied she had fully taken in every word. After a few minutes Harry finally answered her question: "I think that really depends on you." Harry started, then suddenly changed track, "What are you doing for Christmas?" He asked, Hermione looked momentarily confused at the sudden change in conversation, "Erm, I don't really have any plans – my usually plans generally include, curling up on the sofa with crookshanks, watching a DVD, or whatever films are on TV. Oh, and of course, Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without watching the Queen's speech" she added with a laugh,

Harry rolled his eyes, "No, seriously,"

"What makes you think I'm not being serious?"

"That's all you do at Christmas?"

"Well, sometimes I'll go down the pub at the bottom of the hill for a drink, there are always a few locals in there," she added in a defensive tone.

"well, you're not spending Christmas alone this year, would you like to spend Christmas with me?"

"I'd love to," Hermione smiled, then asked "My place or yours?"

"So you're not objecting to spending Christmas in wizarding London then?" Harry attempted to clarify,

"I guess not," answered Hermione cautiously,

"Good," Harry stated, "Because I already told Molly I'd be spending Christmas with them, and she's told me to invite you along – or rather drag you along. I have the letter with me to prove it if you'd like to see it" He added, seeing a slight panic rising in Hermione's features,

"Erm, I don't know – will the really want me there Christmas day?" She asked,

"Honestly Hermione, for someone who used to be the brightest witch of our age you can be incredibly simple sometimes – of course they want to see you, and especially at Christmas. You have to face them sooner or later. Stop putting it off."

"And you're certain they invited me?" She tried to clarify, Harry shook his head and pulled out a letter from his jacket pocket, the letter Molly had sent him last night, and handed it across the table, Hermione took it wordlessly, and unfolded the parchment, quietly she read, letting the words sink into her. Finally she spoke, "Erm, Christmas is only three weeks away, I don't think I can face going around there before hand. And I'm going to need the three weeks for present shopping – I've been shopping for Christmas presents for years, I'm out of practice."

"I told Molly not to expect you before Christmas, but she made me swear to bring you on the day. So there's no getting out of that one. And shopping will be no problem, We'll make a day of it -"

"One day?" Hermione interrupted, "You get all your shopping done in one day?"

"Half a day usually, why?" he asked, seeing Hermione's face, "Is that bad?"

"Never mind. Sure, lets make a day of it, where do you want to go, up into Whitby? There are some pretty good, unique stores there, Great for gifts."

"Hmmm, on second thoughts, maybe we ought to make it two days," Harry suggested, Hermione looked at him slightly confused, waiting for him to elaborate, "One day for muggle-shopping, the next I'm taking you to Hogsmeade. So you better get that wand out soon and start getting used to it, because we will be apperating – I have no idea how to find the damn place the muggle way."

Hermione laughed, and rolled her eyes, nodding slowly, "I guess I could manage that," Hermione started hesitantly, "It would mean leaving the store for the a full day though,"

"You have Katie, she can run things surely? You're not getting out of this,"

"I wasn't trying to get out of it, I was just voicing a concern – I'm going to have to train her up with managing the close. It shouldn't take more than a couple of days," she said more to herself, "How about next week sometime?" she asked,

"And that will give you plenty of time to get used to using magic again" Harry said with a grin, "speaking of which, why don't you help me clean up?" he suggested, Hermione rolled her eyes, and stood up from the table, "fine" she muttered as she made her way upstairs.

Harry sat there, musing on the conversation, on the things they had shared, and triumphing slightly on getting her to come back with him at Christmas. He was still sitting there ten minutes later; Hermione was nowhere to be seen. "Hermione?" he called, rising from the table and going to follow her.

"Hermione?" He called again, going up the stairs. When he entered her room

he saw her stood in the middle of her walk in closet, just staring at the table on which stood her wand,

"What are you doing?" he asked, as he walked up to her,

"It's just, harder than I thought," she said quietly, "Which is stupid really, all I'm wanting to do is pick up a piece of wood"

"It's been a long time. And your wand is more than just a piece of wood." He added, "It will hold a lot of memories," he said moving forward and picking up the wand box from the table. He opened it and held it out to Hermione, "Baby steps" he added; she reached out her hand slowly, and held it over the box a couple of seconds, before taking a deep breath and removing her wand from it's box for the first time in years.

As she held her wand, she felt the familiar warmth spread through her had and up her arm once more, she smiled at the familiarity, and wondered why it was had been so hard to take this very simple step.

Harry smiled at her expression, and decided to push her into the next step, "Go on then," he coaxed her "Give us a spell."

###

Ten days later, Hermione was now in the habit of carrying her wand everywhere – even at work, she had it hidden under her apron, in a little, custom-sewed pocket she decided to attach a week ago. The first couple of days, Hermione had been somewhat hesitant at using magic, but now she was using it everyday, almost without a second thought – she had to admit, the nightly clean-down ritual went a lot quicker with magic. Tonight, however, she had to revert back to the muggle way, as she was giving instructions to Katie (for what felt like the Hundredth time) for tomorrow, when Hermione would be taking a couple of days well earned break,

"Jenny," Katie said, placing her hands on Hermione's shoulder, - She was still known as Jenny to the locals, as she was yet to correct them on this tiny little detail, "You've told me this a million times, you've watched me go through it tonight. Everything will be fine. And if something goes awfully wrong – which I'm sure it wont" she added hastily, "I will call you on your mobile."

"I know, you'll be fine, I know that. It's just strange to think I'll be having a couple of days off, that's never happened. Oh here, I almost forgot," Hermione unhooked a small bunch of keys as she spoke, and handed them over, "You'll be needing these in the morning. I might still be here when you arrive, but let yourself in, and get started, I'll pop in to say bye before I leave"

"Don't worry about it, go enjoy your date-" Katie said taking the keys and turning to pick up her coat,

"What? It's not a date" Hermione spluttered somewhat flustered, "Just friends, shopping"

"Whatever. It's totally a date" she maintained, walking to the door. Before she left she turned, "Accept it's a date, and make a move" she advised, "He's totally into you, and you're into him, quit pussy-footing around and be happy for darn-sakes. You deserve it." With that she turned and disappeared into the dark wintry night, as Hermione looked out, a few flakes of snow began to drift slowly down from the sky, shivering she locked the door, turned away, and jumped at the sight of Harry standing in the doorway leading up to her flat,

"She's right you know, you deserve to be happy," Harry said immediately, forgoing all greeting, "Oh, it's also totally a date, I'll come round at 9am, we'll muggle shop first" he clarified, before turning on the spot and disapparating with a grin, without giving Hermione any chance to speak.

At 9am the next morning, Harry promptly appeared in Hermione's kitchen, expecting to see her waiting for him, but the place was deserted,

"Hermione, I'm here!" he called out, and a disembodied voice replied from above, "I'll be down in a second!"

Upstairs, Hermione stared around her usually compulsively neat bedroom, which this morning was completely covered in what looked like her entire wardrobe. Yesterday's realisation that today was actually a date had lead to a certain panic over what to wear, and overnight her wardrobe had gone into that one state that every woman dreads, and only a woman can fully understand: Lots of clothes, but nothing to wear.

"Why is this such a big deal?" she muttered, "he's seen my in my work clothes, covered in coffee. Nothing is worse than that" Hermione sighed and looked down at her chosen outfit, silently cursing Crookshanks and his destruction of the only full-length mirror. She'd opted for her dark blue skinny jeans, with a knitted grey dress, under which she had donned a long sleeve T' for added warmth as the sleeves on the dress were to short to be even considered as such. For footwear she'd finally decided on her brown leather ankle boots, with fur trim, and a small heel – nice and warm, comfortable and practical, that gave her posture a bit of a lift, and made her legs look fabulous. Perfect. Grabbing her bag and a warm winter coat, she left the scene of carnage and descended to the kitchen,

"Sorry" she said, slightly breathless, "I took advantage of my first lie-in in years, and then I couldn't find my bag" she explained, slightly stretching the truth. Harry smiled, and simply asked, "ready?"

"Sure, lets go."

Four hours later the pair were sat on Whitby pier, eating the traditional sea-side delicacy of fish & chips. The morning had certainly been productive of sorts – though not to the original intended purpose. Hermione had taken Harry around everything touristy that Whitby had to offer: they climbed the 199 steps up to the abbey ruins (Hermione making Harry count them when he didn't believe there were 199), they looked into the parish church of St Mary and around it's graveyard, admiring the view that gave Bram Stoker the inspiration for 'Dracula'. They then descended back down into the main part of the city (Harry counting the steps one more time, just to be sure – turns out there really are 199) along to the port where Hermione told him the history of Captain Cook, they then took a walk along the beach, before returning to the pier for lunch.

"Does it always get this cold?" Harry asked, shivering slightly though he was dressed as if he was going into the Artic; Hermione laughed,

"quit your wining. The sun is out, the snow last night didn't settle, it's not that cold. And I suppose when you've lived here as long as I have you get used to it." She took a breath, then warmed, "It gets colder, you know."

"Well, lets go get some shopping done this afternoon, before I freeze solid in this position" Harry said, standing as he spoke, Hermione rose to join him,

"There are lots of little stores, that sell all sorts of local and traditional things, which I thought would be good for gifts. I thought of making up some little hamper-type gifts for everyone, mixing in a few things from my life here, with things I'll get tomorrow in Hogsmeade. Do you think they'll like that?" she finished hesitantly, looking at Harry and nibbling her lip with nervousness.

"Definitely" he reassured her.

A few hours later, Harry and Hermione returned to the Bay, loaded with bags, half their Christmas shopping done – Harry had also found a few good presents in some unlikely looking shops.

As Harry placed his bags down on the table, Hermione made her way to the stove, turning on a ring, and pouring a bottle of wine into a pan, "Want to stay for some mulled wine?" She asked, adding, "try and warm you up a bit."

"Sounds wonderful," he said, ignoring her jab at his inability to handle the northern climate. He took of his coat, and looking around noticed a couple of boxes in front of the fire, nodding towards them he queried, "What's in the boxes?"

"Christmas decorations, I've yet to put up my tree" Hermione admitted, removing her coat and then proceeding to pour out a couple of mugs of wine. Handing one to Harry she continued, "I was going to put it up this evening, if you want to help?"

"You've left it this late? It's Christmas in three days," Harry said in slight disbelief, Hermione shrugged, "I haven't had much time, are you going to help or not?"

"Are we doing it the muggle way, or can I use a wand?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, and instead of answering simply pulled her wand from a pocket in her dress and proceeded to un-box and assemble the tree by magic.

Harry grinned, "Wands it is then."

When the tree was complete, and the wine finished off, the pair stood to admire their handywork,

"Now it feels more like Christmas," Hermione said happily, "Thanks for the help," she added turning to Harry,

"It was fun, but now I should go. It's getting late, and I'll be back here at 9am to take you to Hogsmeade" he reminded her.

Harry hesitated in leaving; Hermione could see in his eyes that he was having an internal battle of some sorts. Within seconds Harry came to his decision, and taking a step forward he brought a hand to Hermione's cheek, bringing her face up to his he placed his lips gently on hers. Hermione melted at his touch, and brought her arms up to wrap around his neck, pulling him closer to her and deepening the kiss ever so slightly. Harry hesitantly let his tongue trace the outline of Hermione's lips, sending shivers down her spine; she opened her mouth slightly, inviting him in, her tongue seeking his at the same time.

After a few minutes Harry pulled away, leaning his forehead against hers he whispered, "Now I really have to go." Kissing her forehead, he then stepped back, and turned on the spot, disappearing with a crack, leaving Hermione feeling the happiest she'd felt in years.

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><p><em>AN: I thought the time was right for a little bit of smut...it's only a little taster, there is more to come :) Merry Christmas all_

xBx


	14. Chapter 13  Going Home

_A/N: Firstly, I am so, so, so, so, sorry for the delay in this chapter - Long story short, I just relocated so I've been preoccupied with moving and settling in. But now I'm back in my routine, so you hopefully won't have to wait as long for the next one._

_Secondly, Thank you to all my wonderful reviewers, please keep them comments coming. Hope you enjoy the next instalment_

_xBx_

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><p><strong>DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter, or anything related to him and the Harry Potter franchise<strong>

**~ Chapter 13: Going Home ~**

Hermione woke early, excited at the prospect of spending another full day with Harry, but also nervous at returning to Hogsmeade – for the past few weeks she had been continually using magic more and more, and for the past few days had even been starting to use apparition again, getting used to the sensation once more before today: despite all this preparation, she was still anxious at taking her first real step back into the magical world – her one calming thought was that Harry would be by her side.

As promised, Harry turned up promptly at 9am, and this time Hermione was already in the kitchen waiting for him, she was ready to leave immediately, having already checked in downstairs with Katie. Harry, seeing in her stance that Hermione was fully ready to leave for the day, wordlessly held out his hand to her. Hermione took a step forward, feeling suddenly nervous she took a deep, calming breath, and took the offered hand.

Half a second later, the pair appeared at the top of the main street of Hogsmeade, just on the outskirts of the village; turning 180 degrees, Hermione looked upon the familiar sight of Hogwarts in the distance. In that instance, all the memories she had been pushing back, about Ron and their school days came flooding back, overwhelming her slightly and tears escaped before she could stop them. Harry had turned after her, and noticing her reaction put an arm around her and pulled her close,

"Are you alright? What's wrong?" He asked with concern,

"I honestly don't know" Hermione replied, and gave a small laugh at herself, "I think they might be happy tears. It's like coming home." She tried to explain, Harry smiled to himself _'finally'_ he thought.

Removing his arm from around her shoulders, he took her hand and brought her to face the main street, "Where first?" he asked,

Hermione bit her lip, thinking for a moment, then a smile unfurled, "Honeydukes" she said, "I've missed out on their chocolate for too long."

The pair descending into the snowy village, remaining hand-in-hand, they walked as close together as was physically possible – the place hadn't changed over the years, it was exactly as Hermione remembered it from when she used to come here during school; with the exception of Zonko's which was now part of the ever expanding Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes franchise.

The pair wound their way through Hogsmeade, spending a good portion of time in Honeydukes, Hermione leaving the store with enough supplies to last at leas six months – "What?" she asked wide-eyed, when she spotted Harry shaking his head as the left the store, "It's not like I'm going to eat it, or drink it, all at once. I've missed this stuff, I had to stock up," she added defensively,

"You do know this place will still be here next week? And the week after, and for the many weeks after that?"

After elbowing Harry in his ribs, the pair continued, looking into Scrivenshafts (it had always been Hermione's favourite shop, and she couldn't resist looking around the place once again), then wandering into Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes,

"Will George be in here?" Hermione asked in a tentative whisper as she stepped through the doorway,

"No" Harry shook his head, "he comes up here every now and then, to check on business, but he usually sticks to running the Diagon Alley store"

Hermione nodded, slightly relieved, but also slightly disappointed. The didn't spend too long in that particular store, Hermione noticed a lot of new merchandise she was unfamiliar with, and she was certain she would find the store far more fascinating with George as her guide.

Their next stop was Gladrags, in which the pair spent an absurd amount of time as Harry was unable to tear Hermione away from the adorable collection of Baby clothes – and using Ginny and her soon expected newborn as her excuse, Hermione spent near enough a full hour admiring the infant wares, before turning her attention to the rest of the store.

By the time they reached the bottom end of the street it was well past mid-day; stopping in at the Hogs Head (Harry never left Hogsmeade without paying it a visit, he felt he owed it to the place: it had been fundamental to the D.A. after all), the pair refreshed themselves with a mug of hot, spiced ale, before continuing back up the main street and into the remaining shops.

By the time the last of the daylight was beginning to fade the pair were laden down with bags, and had worked up quite an appetite; Harry turned to Hermione,

"Fancy going into The Three Broomsticks? I don't know about you, but I am starved, and I could do with a flagon of Rosmerta's mead. I'm buying," he added, as a last ditch attempt to convince her,

"Well I can't very well visit The Hog's Head, and then ignore The Three Broomsticks, can I? That would just be rude. Lead the way." Hermione followed Harry into the pub, which didn't look any different from the last time she visited the place.

The pair made their way over to the bar, tended, as ever, by the constant presence that was Madame Rosmerta:

"Harry! Good to see you again" greeted Madame Rosmerta, as she came towards them to take their order, "And, bless my soul" she added upon seeing Hermione "Hermione Granger, is that really you?"

Hermione smiled shyly, and nodded, "Hi" she greeted hesitantly,

"Well, it's wonderful to see you back here again, finally. Now what can I get you m'dears" Rosmerta went strait to business, sensing in Hermione a slight reserve she thought better ought not be pushed upon. The pair ordered their food, and a jug of butterbeer with two flagons,

"Why don't you go find yourselves a table, I'll bring the drinks over to you. Oh, and Neville is here by the way Harry, I told him you might be in here soon, you usually are the Saturday before Christmas. He's over in the corner, with a couple of other professors,"

"Thanks, Rosmerta" Harry grinned, "We'll find a table over near him I reckon," Harry turned to Hermione, "Don't make me drag you? We are going to say hi" Harry started walking toward the back of the pub, Hermione following a step behind, rolling her eyes at Harry, from behind, "I'm too exhausted to argue" she muttered.

When Harry finally spotted Neville, he also spotted the empty table in the corner, not far from his and his companions; promptly Harry set his bags down and pulled out a chair for Hermione to sit on – ever the gentleman, Hermione smiled. Neville, noticing the movement near him, and recognising Harry immediately, stood up "Harry!" he called over, "Rosmerta said you might be in at some point, good to see you" Neville, as he moved towards Harry, then recognised Harry's companion, "Bloody Hell!" he exclaimed "Is it really you?"

"Hi Neville" Hermione smiled nervously, putting her bags down along with Harry's. Neville, instead of saying anything, simply went to Hermione and hugged her tightly, "Good, god, it's good to see you again. Where the hell have you been?" he added, pulling away and letting Hermione breath once more.

"Erm, Whitby – well Robin Hood's Bay," Hermione started, looking slightly sheepish, Harry stepped in,

"Hermione set up her own business: a bookstore and coffee shop rolled into one,"

Neville laughed, "I should have guessed: nothing sounds more like you than that, Hermione," At that moment, the remaining professors at the table Neville had left, arose from their table, and called over to Neville that they would see him back at the castle, Harry seized the opportunity,

"Care to join is for a few?" He asked Neville,

"I really should be getting back," Neville hesitated, "but I suppose one more can't hurt,"

The trio sat down just as Madame Rosmerta appeared carrying the jug of butterbeer and two flagons; seeing Neville had now joined the group she wordlessly summoned an extra flagon, and set them down on the table, saying cheerfully, "give me a shout when you're running low, and I'll bring you another,"

"Thank you, Rosmerta" Hermione answered, Rosmerta turned to clear the recently vacated table, leaving the trio to their conversation.

"So Hermione," Neville started, as Harry poured them each a drink, "Tell me about your business, and why it kept you away for so long?"

Hermione looked slightly taken aback, Harry noticing this stepped in "Neville, give her a break; at least ease the girl back in with trivial conversation"

"No, it's ok Harry," Hermione defended, taking her drink form Harry, "I'm going to be getting these questions a lot soon enough, I may as well learn to answer" she turned to Neville, "When I first left, I went travelling. I intended to be away for a few weeks, maybe a couple of months – I went touring round Ireland and the North of England. I went to Robin Hood's Bay, intending to stay a few days, I saw a property for sale and I bought it on a whim. It took me a good six months to renovate, but then I had a business. And then the years went by, just me working there, so time off was non-existent. The years all blurred together. The Harry turned up out of the blue, and brought be back to my old self eventually. And here I am." She finished, taking a swig from her drink, neither of the boys spoke, and starting to feel slightly awkward Hermione broke the silence, "So, Neville, you're teaching at Hogwarts now?"

"Yep, Herbology, going on eight years now. McGonagall is still Headmistress; Flitwick is still there, as is Slughorn. And Binns of course is ever-present." Neville began,

"What bout Hagrid?" Hermione asked, not being able to contain herself, and leaning forward slightly: Neville grinned at her enthusiasm, and Harry leaned back in his seat with a contented, and slightly smug, smile playing on his lips as he watched Hermione,

Neville nodded, "Hagrid is still there, still teaching – Care of Magical Creatures is very popular, even now: everyone wants to know stories of the Golden Trio" he added with a sly grin, "of course for the real dirt, they come to me," he added watching Hermione's eyes widen, "Don't worry, I don't tell them anything that isn't already Hogwarts legend anyway."

Hermione decided now would be a good time to try and steer the conversation, slightly dreading what infamous stories of their youthful antics were now common knowledge, "So, does McGonagall still teach?" she asked,

Neville shook his head, "Not anymore, she used to do the odd class now and then, but now she just leaves Professor Hawthorne to get on with it. However, I think Hawthorne is wanting to leave at the end of the year, work on a couple of books, I believe: Fancy coming to teach Hermione?" Neville asked with a grin, "I'm sure McGonagall would hire on the spot,"

Hermione laughed, "No thanks, you know I once thought I'd maybe return to Hogwarts to teach at some point later on in life," she mused,

"Not anymore?" This time it was Harry who spoke.

Hermione shook her head, "No," she mused, "What with having my own business now, I can't see leaving it any time soon."

"Strange how things work out" Neville mused, then draining his mug he got to his feet, "Well, I should e getting back up to the castle for dinner. Good to see you Harry. And Hermione, I'm really glad you're back; don't leave it so long this time." Neville left the pair, just as Madame Rosmerta returned to the table with their food.

Over dinner Harry and Hermione indulged themselves in talking of Hogwartean memories, namely those involving their numerous visits to The Three Broomsticks:

"The first time I came in here, with you and Ron, you had to hide me under the table because the teachers were having a Christmas drink -"

"And I hid us all behind one of the giant Christmas trees" Hermione finished, smiling, "The year after, when you came in with me, but you were wearing your invisibility cloak – everyone must have thought I was crazy, talking to myself,"

"Hey, it's not my fault you moved your lips too much when you were talking," Harry laughed, then sighed, "even then, life seemed a little les complicated didn't it?"

Hermione nodded, somewhat sadly, "I know: you would think life would be simpler now, with Voldemort gone, no unending struggle for our lives and souls. Do you think we'll ever get to a happy ending?" she asked,

"I guess that depends on what your happy ending would be. But I think mine might be possible, now" he said, with a sly smile,

"And what is your happy ending Mr Potter?" she said, echoing his sly smile,

"I could tell you," Harry started in mock seriousness, "but then I would have to kill you"

Hermione laughed, "I guess I'll have to try and find out on my own then."

The pair continued to reminisce about their school-day adventures in Hogsmeade for another hour, then decided it was time to return home – when they apparated into Hermione's living room, she immediately collapsed on the sofa with a large sigh, "I am actually exhausted" she exclaimed, "and I still have to wrap all the presents,"

"I can give you a hand if you like?" Harry offered,

Hermione gave him a huge smile, "That would be great, thank you. Hot chocolate?" she asked, reaching for the one of the large Honeydukes bag, and pulling out a bar and opening it, "Chocolate?" she offered not wanting to be rude,

Harry laughed, "I'm good, I'll let you enjoy it all to yourself"

Hermione pulled her legs up onto the sofa and ripped into the bar, looking somewhat like a child on Easter morning, causing Harry to laugh again and shake his head, as he came to sit next to her,

"Oh, My, God" she exclaimed, mouth full of chocolate, "I forgot just how orgasmically good this chocolate actually is" she stated, putting extra emphasis on the word 'orgasmically'

Harry raised and eyebrow, "Orgasmically?"

Hermione turned on him, "hey, when you don't have any for a while, you forget just how much you love it, so when you have it again is amazingly orgasmic"

"Are we still talking about chocolate here?" Harry asked with a grin, Hermione's response was in the form of a pillow, which she threw, strait at his head, and then turned back to her chocolate,

"Ok, so Christmas presents? Shall we make a start?" he asked, "Or would you like to eat the rest of your Honeydukes purchases. All three large bags of them." He jibed, Hermione rolled her eyes, and slid down from the sofa, now sitting cross-legged on the floor, and began shifting through the bags.

Within no time, she had surrounded herself with strategically sorted piles of gifts, and wrapping paper. Once Harry ascertained that her organisation was complete, he slid down to join her.

The spent the next few hours in the joys of gift-wrapping, and by the end, Hermione's tree was looking ultra-festive, with a large pile of presents underneath.

Harry gave a yawn and stretched, and finished his third mug of chocolate. He looked over at Hermione, who looked the most relaxed he had ever seen her, since he found her a few months ago: Finally, it seemed as if the old Hermione had come back to him; which is why he thoroughly regretted having to say the next words: "I suppose I should be going back to my place" he said with a sigh, and no hint of enthusiasm what so ever.

Hermione, full of Honeydukes finest chocolate, and feeling rather quite wonderful and light-hearted, spoke before she truly thought of the possible implications of her phrasing,

"You can stay here, spend the night with me" she stated simply,

"Hermione Granger, are you propositioning me?" he asked coyly, causing Hermione to choke on the last gulp of hot chocolate; at first she was unsure of how to best save the situation, but a split second later she realised she didn't want the situation to be saved – she cared about Harry a lot, and she realised she had cared for him for a very long time, as more than her best friend: right now all she could focus her attention on was how much she longed for him, how much she needed him, wanted him; with every fibre of her being she wanted him to hold her, take her, have her, and never let her go.

Throwing all pretence to the wind, she turned to him with a coy smile, and looked seductively up at him, "I suggest you stay and find out." With that, she rose gracefully from the floor and began to make her way to the staircase: Harry was unsure how to appropriately proceed, but he did know that he wanted to follow her – all he needed was one word, or one more look, and he would e at her side in an instant, following her up to her room.

As if in answer to his prayers, Hermione stopped with a foot on the first stair, her hand on the banister, and turned to him once more to ask seductively,

"Coming?"

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><p><em>AN: So that's chapter 13, I'm working on the next one now. Please review, let me know what you think - if you find anything wrong please mention and I'll sort it out :D hope you enjoyed it_

xBx


	15. Chapter 14 A Magical Christmas pt1

_A/N:_ _Okay, so I know I have been MIA for a long long time, and I'm so sorry, in truth I did get a little sidetracked, then when I did get back on track, I found this chapter a lot harder to write,, and before I knew it, it became epically long, so it has now been split into two. The second part will be along very shortly, within 48 hours (if I'm happy with it)._**  
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_Sorry for keeping you all waiting for so long, but I hope you enjoy the update, and thank you for sticking with me :D_

_Also, thank you for all the great reviews to the last chapter, I hope I'll continue to keep you all happy - and as ever, if you see anything wrong, any mistakes, please tell me :D_

_xBx_

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><p><strong>DISCLAIMER: Everything Harry Potter andor related to the HArry Potter universe does not belong to me...how ever much I wish for it...**

**~ Chapter 14: A Magical Christmas pt 1 – Christmas Eve~**

Hermione woke on Christmas Eve, feeling incredibly light-hearted, incredibly content, and most definitely incredibly satisfied. Her lips curved into a fulfilled smile, and letting out a contented sigh she snuggled closer to the warm body wrapped around her.

Feeling her move into wakefulness, Harry also began to stir into consciousness, wrapping his arm tighter around Hermione, pressing her into his side. He turned his face into her hair, breathed in her scent and kissed her head, "Good morning beautiful"

Hermione giggled – yes, actually giggled – and turned her head to look up into Harry's eyes, "Good morning, Handsome," she replied with a smile, before meeting his lips with hers, in what she intended to be a brief kiss. Harry, it seemed, had other ideas: as she attempted to pull away, Harry tightened his hold on, pulling her even closer and deepening the kiss…

By the time Hermione managed to extricate herself from Harry's arms and lips, she was running very late indeed, after a hurried shower and throwing on the first clothes she found, she gave Harry a quick kiss, shouting behind her as she hurried out of the door "I'll see you later, call down and see me if you like, it should be pretty quiet"

Harry barely had time to call "Bye" before he heard her front door slam.

Hermione hurried through her morning set-up (Thank the Lords that Katie was as anal about cleanliness as Hermione was, so there was very little to do except count out the till) and Hermione managed to open her door only a half hour late. Not expecting anyone for a while, she brewed herself a hot chocolate, courtesy of Honeydukes, and sat herself down at a table with a random book from her ample collection. The book held her attention for at least ten minutes, before her mind wandered off to her bedroom, wondering if Harry was still lying in her bed. A smile graced her lips as she began thinking of last night, and this morning.

She was awoken from her reverie, by the sound of the door opening, and her first customer entered, speaking as she did so, "So you are opening today? I thought you had a taste for vacation and decided to just take the day off" Betsy greeted jovially,

Hermione jumped up and smiled, "I'm sorry, I was hoping no one would have noticed my late-start…It was a bit of a struggle getting out of bed this morning" she finished truthfully, with a grin and a slight blush. She then made her way to the counter, "the usual?" she asked along the way,

"Of course. And you can sit and tell me all about your Hogsmeade date with Harry. I want all the gossip, thank you," Betsy demanded as she took a seat at the table Hermione had just vacated.

Hermione laughed, "How did you know?"

"Minerva told me: she was told by Neville, who apparently gate-crashed your date according to Rosmerta – who also gossiped with Minerva about it. You of all people should know how quickly gossip spreads up there, Hermione."

Hermione laughed again and nodded, as she brought Betsy's tray over to her with another drink for herself also, "Well, it was more of a shopping trip than a date," Hermione tried to clarify,

"It's still a date, whether you want to think it is or not. I've seen the way he looks at you. And the way you look at him, come to think on it." Betsy countered,

"Either way, it was fun." Hermione decided to cut her off, not wanting to delve into feelings which she herself was uncertain about as of yet. "It was actually really nice not to have to be up at the crack of dawn to come down here; I forgot what it was like to have a day off. And going back to Hogsmeade, was…. was more enjoyable than I thought it would be." Hermione finished truthfully; Betsy nodded at her, her silence inviting Hermione to continue if she wanted,

"I mean, it was a little awkward at first, and every shop I went into, my heart was pounding at the thought of seeing someone I once knew – I didn't know what I would say if I did. But on the other hand, it felt like going home." Hermione finished with a smile.

"Does that mean you'll be gracing the place with your presence again? Only Rosmerta would quite like to know, she was disappointed she didn't get to have a good chat with you – apparently she was rather busy."

Hermione shook her head and laughed, "Do you speak to everyone up there?" she asked incredulously, her only response was a half-shrug, a raise of the eyebrows, and a sly smile, "What can I say, I have my contacts, when I want to know, I can know anything and everything" Betsy took a drink then proceeded to scour out the real gossip,

"So, did Harry spend the night?" she asked abruptly, Hermione coughed a little on the drink she had just taken,

"Erm, yes actually. We were erm, up late wrapping the presents we bought. By the time we were finished, he was too tired to make it back to his place-" she trailed off, but a slight blush had rose to her cheeks, and a smile warmed her lips, leaving Betsy with a fair idea of the nights turn of events,

"mmhmmm, yes well, I guess that explains your lateness this morning. Now I know why getting out of bed was such a struggle for you." She said with a grin causing Hermione to once again choke on her drink, Betsy laughed, before changing the subject, feeling Hermione wasn't quite ready to discuss the physical side of their relationship just yet,

"So, will Harry be spending Christmas with you this year?" she asked, innocently enough, but the smile that had been playing on Hermione's lips all morning slowly slid away and was replaced by a look of anxiety, as Hermione began nibbling her lip

"I'll be spending it with him, yes. But we'll be going to the Weasley's. Like he does every year." Hermione explained,

"Ahhh, you can't put it off forever, you know" Betsy said quietly, completely understanding Hermione's swift change of mood, "And the longer you wait the harder it will be. But at least this way, everyone will be together, the first meetings, or reunions if you will, can all be done at once, instead of drawing it out over a number of days" she added, consolingly, Hermione nodded,

"You're right. I know you're right. And at least Harry will be with me" Hermione added, a smile working it's way back into her features.

Betsy stayed for an hour or so, immersed in genial chit-chat with Hermione; as expected business was naturally slow, with only a handful of people turning up for a quick take-out to warm them through. After lunch, about a half hour before Hermione had planned on closing up, Harry emerged from the back – Hermione was busy cleaning down the tables so his appearance went un-noticed until he came up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her lightly on the neck, "How's your day?" he murmured against her throat,

Hermione leaned back and smiled, "quiet, boring. It just got a lot better though," she added as she turned in his arms and kissed him quickly on the lips before extricating herself and returning behind the counter, "no-one's been in for a while, so I might close up earlier than I planned," she said

"Need any help?" Harry offered, Hermione looked around her,

"You could mop if you want? It's my least favourite part of the job" she grinned,

"Thanks," Harry responded dryly, "I hope that's not the only thing left to do?"

"No, the coffee machine needs cleaning, I'll do that while you mop. And before you ask, there is no way I'm letting you, or your wand, anywhere near that machine – my livelihood depends on it, I can't afford it to be broken."

Harry looked slightly offended for the space of five seconds, until he shrugged his shoulders in acceptance that if he thought about it, he did have a certain clumsy-ness about him, and trusting him with expensive muggle machinery that he knows nothing about was probably not one if the brightest ideas.

As Harry set to work with the mop, he started up the conversation, asking: "I was wondering, since you don't have to worry about this place tomorrow, would like to have dinner at my place tonight, and maybe spend the night?" Harry had his back to Hermione, and couldn't see her shoulders tense, but her silence told him everything he needed to know, so he continued, "I know that it will be hard to go back to Grimmauld Place, after everything that happened there, but I thought it might be a good stepping stone, before heading to The Burrow." Harry shrugged, "I don't know," he continued shrugging his shoulders, realising he wasn't being as articulate as he would like, "I thought maybe, tomorrow might be a little less intimidating if you'd spent the night in a house with similar memories to those held by the Burrow," Harry let the silence fall then, waiting for Hermione to respond:

Hermione had taken in each single word, and while the thought of spending the night with Harry again was what she wanted most right now, the idea of returning and spending the night in Grimmauld place filled her with anxiety. But Harry was right about one thing, it would be easier to face this than the Burrow, and if she could get through the night, then facing The Burrow and the entire Weasley clan might be a little easier,

"Kreacher wouldn't mind, the extra work?" Hermione asked hesitantly, Harry laughed,

"Kreacher wont mind at all: for a start, it's hardly extra work, and believe it or not, I think even he has missed you. Also," Harry added slowly, "He's kind of already expecting you," Harry finished sheepishly, Hermione turned to face him,

"What do you mean? Why is he expecting me?"

"I already told him you would be spending the night," he admitted, Hermione raised an eyebrow, "I went back there earlier to check in with him, and organise dinner,"

"Should you not have waited to make sure I actually wanted to? I may want to spend the night in my own bed, and wake up on Christmas Morning in my own place, surrounded by my things,"

"Alone?" Harry interrupted, "Well, I don't want to wake up alone again on Christmas day. For once I would like to spend the _entire_ day with, which includes waking up next to, the woman I love. I've be wanting to do that for over ten years, so I'm not taking no for an answer."

"Ok" Hermione said quietly, "ok." She was a little taken aback at his speech: whether he realised or no, Harry had just told Hermione that he was in love with her for the first time – she remembered their argument a few weeks ago, where he had hinted about being in love with someone hiding away from the truth, at the time she thought he may have meant her, but she never let herself truly believe it until now. Granted, he hadn't actually said the words "I love you", but his meaning was pretty clear this time. Unsure as to whether or not she was ready to say it back to him she contented herself with saying:

"I'll finish up here, pack a bag, grab the presents and come over. Shall I meet you there? Or will you need to apparate with me? Have you added any extra security charms?"

"No, still the same charms there have always been, so _you'll_ be able to apparate in no problem. I'll grab the gifts and take them over now. There's a likely possibility that George will be there, I'll tell him to go, and that you'll see him tomorrow. Then you don't have to worry about the stress and anxiety this evening, you can just relax."

"Thank you." Hermione said, touched by his thoughtfulness. Harry, having finished his mopping duties proceeded to clear away and head to the door leading through to the back, when Hermione added: "He won't be offended will he? It's not that I don't want to see him, I'm just not quite ready yet," she finished lamely,

"Don't worry about it, I'll just tell him you want me all to yourself" he said with a smirk; Hermione made a sound of indignation and threw the cloth she was holding in the general direction of his face. The cloth missed him by mere centimetres as he lurched through the doorway laughing,

"Prat" Hermione spoke,

"I heard that," Harry called back to her,

"Well, I said it out loud!" she called back smiling, "I'll see you in a half hour" she called as she heard Harry start taking the stairs. After making sure everything was locked and secure, she followed Harry up the stairs; barely five minutes behind him, she gained the top of the stairs, opening her door just in time to here the tell-tale "crack" of Harry disapparating.

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Harry apparated into the kitchen at Grimmauld place, laden down with the bags of presents he'd taken from under Hermione's tree.

"Welcome home, Master Harry" Kreacher greeted him from near the stove,

"Hi Kreacher, the food smells delicious" Harry complimented, as he placed the bags on the table, he turned towards the stove to see Kreacher with a crestfallen expression, looking back at him, "Something wrong, Kreacher?" Harry asked concerned,

"Master Harry is alone, I thought…" the elf trailed off,

"She'll be here in half an hour, don't worry, your hard work has not gone to waste." The elf's expression cleared, and he smiled once again,

"Good," the elf expressed, "Master Harry has been alone on Christmas eve for too long now." Kreacher stated, turning back to his cooking, Harry had no response to that, and was starting to think that letting Kreacher be always open and honest with Harry could backfire badly pretty soon. Harry was distracted from his thought process by the kitchen door opening, and George entered the room,

"Blimey Harry," he said, noting the bags, "you went out on a limb with your gifts this year didn't you?"

"They're not all from me," he explained, "They're from Hermione, as well"

George raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Is she here?" he asked slowly, Harry shook his head, and George jumped in again before Harry could speak, "So you've effectively stolen Hermione's gifts? Nice."

"No, of course not, I brought these back with me, Hermione will be coming over in a half hour."

"Excellent! I'll get us some drinks ready," George announce,

"No, no" Harry clarified, "you won't be here, you will see her tomorrow. You have 20 minutes to talk to me then you're out"

"Well, that seems rather harsh," George commented, slightly crestfallen, "I always spend Christmas eve here, what am I going to do now?" he asked,

"Maybe go to the Burrow" Harry pointed out, "you can keep the rest of you family from dropping in unexpectedly, like they have a habit of doing,"

George looked at him suspiciously, "Why?" he asked, then a look of comprehension crossed his face, and a sly grin graced his feature, "ohhhh" he said knowingly, nodding as he spoke, "It's one of _those _evenings you've got planned, eh? Making your move?" he asked with a wink, Harry simply responded with a glare, George continued, dropping his teasing air, "Seriously though, Kreacher is right, you've been alone far too long. We all know how you feel about Hermione, and we know you've felt it for a long time. It's time she knew as well."

"Easier said than done mate," Harry stated simply, pulling out his wand he cleared the gifts from the table, sending them under the large tree at the end of the kitchen, and then conjured up crockery, glasses and cutlery for dinner, "Though I think I may have let it slip in the heat of the moment" he added, thinking back to his slight outburst from earlier,

George chuckled, "heat of the moment eh?" he repeated suggestively,

Harry rolled his eyes, "you really need to find yourself a girl: your one-track mind is getting ridiculous. I meant that our discussions can sometimes get a little heated – she's still retained her fiery temper, and you know what I'm like," he finished.

George nodded, "Well if you don't tell her, I will. And I'm sure Ginny and mum will also tell her, and they won't keep quiet for long, so you best get it out there."

"Thanks, now if you don't mind, Hermione will be here in about five minutes, and I need to change."

"Say no more, I won't cramp your style. I'll see you tomorrow. Lunch will be served at 2pm, as always. But mum will be expecting you by 11am."

"As usual" Harry finished with a smile, "I'll see you tomorrow morning,"

George disapparated with a wave, and Harry turned to his house-elf, "Sorry Kreacher, I need to change, have you got everything under control?"

"Of course, master Harry,"

"If Hermione arrives before I come back down-"

"I will take her things, pour her a drink and seat her at the table to await your return" Kreacher finished, Harry smiled,

"Thanks Kreacher."

Five minutes later Harry came back into the kitchen to find Hermione sat at the table, a large glass of wine in her hands being served snacks and talking amiably with Kreacher. Harry stood in the doorway watching her for a few minutes, smiling at how happy and comfortable she appeared to be, until Kreacher spotted him,

"I hope you don't mind, master Harry, But I took the liberty of serving some appetisers: I didn't think it would be right to keep mistress Hermione waiting after her long day working."

Hermione turned in her chair, "Hey Harry," She smiled up, "Hope you don't mind, I was pretty hungry, and Kreacher's cooking smelt delicious,"

"Of course not," he started down the steps and walked toward the table, "You ok?" the question was simple and generic, but the look in his eyes gave it a deeper meaning.

"I'm fine" she assured him, "actually, I feel really good" Harry came over to her, kissed her on the head in an automatic action way, then sat down next to her. Kreacher took this moment to serve out the first course of dinner; saying as he placed a bowl of steaming soup in front of Hermione,

" 'tis good to have you back mistress Hermione; the house and master has been gloomy without you."

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><p><strong><em>AN: So there you have it, the next instalment, not a lot happens I know: it's more of a build up to the big reunion which will be taking place next chapter. Chapter 15 will hopefully not be far behind, it's been taking me a while to get it down right - I feel the first time Hermione returns to the Weasley's is such a huge occasion, I really want to get it right, which is why there has been such a delay with these two chapters, but I think I'm about there now, which is why I have now decided to post the first one up. So please review, and please come back for more :D_**

**xBx**


	16. Chapter 15 A Magical Christmas pt2

**_A/N: Finally! Here it is, I'm sorry it's later than I planned, but it's finally here. This is about the fifth version of this chapter, definitely not how I expected it to turn out, but I think it's better this way. Also, it gives me another chapter (what I originally had planned, I thought went better later on).  
>Also, this is a very, very, long chapter, so I'm hoping that makes up for the long wait.<em>**

**_Thank you to all my reviewers, a special thank you to all my faithful readers who have waited out my long absence from posting, it really means a lot that you are still reading, and enjoying. And thanks to my new readers, who've just found my story, and added me to their favourites, I hope I continue to give you a story you will keep on loving._**

**_So, now, please read, enjoy and review :)_**

**_xBx_**

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><p><strong>DISCLAIMER: I own nothing related to Harry Potter, including Harry Potter himself<strong>

**~ Chapter 15: A Magical Christmas pt2 ~**

"Thanks Kreacher," Harry muttered, avoiding Hermione's eyes: it seemed even his elf was keen to fill Hermione in on Harry's feelings. Hermione blushed, chanced a glance at Harry with a smiling playing on her lips, then turned back to Kreacher,

"Thank you, Kreacher. And I'm sorry I went away for so long," She said, Kreacher smiled then turned to collect Hermione's night bag from the corner, and proceeded out to the hallway, leaving Hermione and Harry alone.

Harry spoke first, "I hope I didn't keep you waiting, I just wanted to change out of last nights clothes" he explained,

"I was fine, me and Kreacher had a wonderful little catch up" she said with a sly smirk, causing Harry to shift uncomfortably in his seat, wondering what Kreacher may have felt at liberty to tell her about Harry's past thoughts and behaviours,

"Really?" he asked, "What did you talk about?" He tried to keep his voice casual, but his tone was higher than usual; Hermione giggled,

"Oh, you know, a little of this, a little of that" she said, not giving anything away, "I hear that George often spends a lot of time here: quite the bachelor pad you have going on"

"Is that what Kreacher called it? Or are you making assumptions?" Harry asked, narrowing his eyes, Hermione laughed,

"Apparently it's just the two of you most of the time; according to Kreacher the house has been lacking from feminine presence. He was telling me how, when you and 'Miss Ginny' stopped seeing each other, 'Mister George' became an almost constant presence. Apparently Kreacher would have liked my presence to help keep you in line: I was about to enquire just what it was that you were getting up to that appeared to be so far over the line, but that was when you walked in" Hermione finished grinning.

The rest of the dinner passed in amiable conversation about everything and nothing, an hour later, Kreacher came back to clear away, ushering them up to the drawing room where a fresh bottle of wine and a roaring fire was waiting for them,

"Wow" Hermione breathed, as she walked in, not believing how different the place looked, "You've really done a lot to the place, it looks great" she said, taking a glass of wine from the table and sitting on the couch. Harry grabbed the other glass and took a seat beside her,

"It took a while, a good couple of years to get the whole place up to standard. But it kept me busy, It's what I needed, at the time," He trailed off, the pair sipped their wine, lapsing into a comfortable silence, when Hermione suddenly spoke,

"There is something I would like to ask," Hermione started hesitantly, Harry turned to he, inviting her to continue, "Kreacher calls me mistress,"

"Yeah," Harry answered, slightly confused, "He precedes everyone's names with either Master of Mistress," he reminded her; surprised she didn't remember that fact.

Hermione shook her head, "Actually, he doesn't: whenever he talks of George, he calls him '_Mister_', not 'Master'. And Ginny is always 'Miss', never Mistress. Why is that?" She asked curiously, unknowingly awakening a long forgotten memory in Harry, of one of the arguments Ginny and he had had at the end of their relationship:

_[8 years earlier….]_

_Harry was sat at the kitchen table, a large glass of Firewhiskey in hand; it was 10pm and he had been home from work around fifteen minutes, already Ginny was back on her usual rant:_

"_I just don't understand why you would prefer to stay to here, instead of finding somewhere that we can call ours?" she said, for what Harry felt was the hundredth time, and he responded the same way he always had:_

"_Because this **is** my home: this is my house and I'm not going to sell it. Ever. So what is the point of buying another house, that I am not going to need or use?"_

"_Because it would be **ours**" Ginny stressed, "And **we** would use it, **we** would live there. And I wouldn't feel like an unwanted house guest who has outstayed her welcome"_

"_Ginny, you know that's not true-"_

"_Don't try and tell me how I feel, Harry!" she cut him off, hotly, "And don't tell me I'm crazy, either. Your house-elf doesn't like me, and he certainly doesn't recognise me as your significant other,"_

"_How on earth did you reach that conclusion?" Harry asked, incredulously,_

"_He calls me 'Miss Ginny'." Harry looked at her blankly, so she elaborated, "'**Miss Ginny',**" she reiterated, "Not 'Mistress', just 'Miss'!"_

_Harry could help himself, and he laughed, "Seriously?"_

"_Don't laugh at me, Harry!" Ginny shouted, slamming her hand on the table in frustration and hurt,_

"_I'm sorry, but that is ridiculous. He doesn't call anyone 'Mistress', Ginny. You didn't inherit this house, therefore you didn't get his allegiance with it: The only woman he will ever call 'Mistress', will be the woman who shares my Surname" He spoke tiredly, as if his patience was starting to wear thin on the ground,_

_Ginny looked at him for a few seconds, her mood slowly darkening, then spoke quietly, "He calls Hermione 'Mistress' whenever he talks of her," she stated barely above a whisper. Harry looked down at his glass upon hearing Hermione's name, took a large drink, and didn't say anything._

_Ginny shook her head and let out a breath of disbelieving laughter, "He calls Hermione 'Mistress'," she repeated, almost bitterly, "And she hasn't even set foot in this place for how long? Nearly two years?"_

"_Two years and four months" Harry whispered, barely audible, though Ginny still caught every word; she gave another disbelieving laugh._

"_You're in love with her" Realisation hit Ginny, and she couldn't keep the acidic incredulity out of her voice, "You're in love with her, you have been for years. And even the goddamn elf recognises it before I do. Before we do. Are we the only ones in denial about it?" she asked. Harry never responded, he never even looked up, and in that split second Ginny made her choice, a decision she wasn't even expecting to make:_

"_I'm going to pack up what few things I have here and I'm going to leave tonight." She stated, Harry still didn't look up from his drink, though she thought she saw him nod slightly, so she continued, "I can't make this work, not when you are in love with someone else – regardless of whether or not she is here in person, she is here in spirit, and three in a relationship is one too many for me."_

_With that she turned and walked out, Harry heard her leave through the front door a half hour later: he hadn't moved an inch, he didn't have the energy to fight for a relationship, not when he was fighting every second to avoid the black hole of despair ready to swallow him whole should he ever for a moment begin to think that Hermione might never return._

###

"Harry?" Hermione's voice brought him back to the present,

"Hmm?"

"Are you ok?" She asked, frowning slightly,

"Yeah," he shook himself out of his reverie, "Sorry, I just forgot," he tried to explain, "You're right, you are the only one he calls 'Mistress'," he clarified, "And you're not the first person to notice,"

"Oh?" Hermione questioned,

"Yeah, it used to be a bit of a sore point for Ginny at one time" Harry admitted,

"Oh," Hermione became silent contemplating this new piece of information, which consequently made all her anxieties about the morrow come back to her, slightly heightened. As ever, it seemed Harry appeared to know exactly what Hermione was thinking. He pulled her into him, and kissed her forehead,

"Don't worry about it, this was years ago, all water under the bridge." Seeing Hermione's tension not leaving, he turned her face towards him and kissed her gently, but passionately on the lips, he felt her smile against his lips and pulled her closer deepening the kiss even more. Moments later he pulled back slightly, and leaning his forehead against her hers, he said "How about we leave the wine, and just head to straight to bed?" he asked, his voice slightly husky from desire, Hermione smiled even more,

"That sounds like an excellent idea."

###

Christmas Morning dawned, bright but cold, a fine level of snow blanketed the ground, and the thick white clouds covering the sky seemed to promise the prospect of more snow before the day was out.

At 11am, on the dot, Harry and Hermione apparated side by side into the garden of The Burrow, walking up the path Hermione took a deep calming breath. Harry halted at the door, before going through he gently squeezed Hermione's hand,

"Are you ready?" He asked her quietly, feeling the waves of anxiety rolling off her,

"No" she answered truthfully, "But I'm as ready as I'm ever going to be. Now or never right?" she asked, rhetorically, Harry laughed, and tried to reassure her;

"You'll be fine, and I'll be right here next to you the whole time, if you need me." He unclasped their hands and draped his arm around her shoulders, kissing her head, he spoke quietly, "It will be easier than you're imagining. I love you" he finished, the words coming out unexpectedly yet naturally,

"I love you too," she responded, hardly thinking, Harry smiled,

"You realise that's the first time we've said that to each other?" he asked,

"Yes, but right now, I have bigger issues; like seeing my friends for the first time after I abandoned them ten years ago" Hermione answered dryly, and Harry laughed again, Hermione turned to him,

"Do I look ok?" she asked,

"You look beautiful," As Hermione smiled, the door opened from the inside and George appeared in the doorway,

"Are you two planning on crossing the threshold anytime soon? Only mum is going frantic, wanting to see you, and worrying that you're going to get pneumonia if you stay out here any longer."

Hermione laughed in spite of herself, but her nerves were the worst she had ever felt, and it must have showed on her face, for George, without ceremony, threw his arms round her and pulled her into a rob-crushing hug, speaking quietly in her ear;

"Take a breath, we've all missed you, so mum will smother you; Ginny is a tad hormonal, so there is no telling what she will do, but we're all waiting to see you, you will be fine."

"Thanks, George," she said with a smile as they pulled apart, "It's really good to see you,"

"You too. And I'm glad to see you're looking well. Right, come on." He said, remembering the reason he had come out in the first place, "Lets get this show started."

When Hermione entered the kitchen, everything looked the same as it had the last time she was here: Arthur was sat at the scrubbed wooden table, while Molly was busy fussing over the many pots and pans boiling and bubbling away: the smell of Molly's cooking made Hermione's stomach growl.

"Finally dragged them in from the cold" George announced; Arthur looked up from his book, a large smile graced his features,

"Hermione," he said, raising from his seat, "It's so good to have you back," he came round the table and gave her a brief hug, by which time, Molly had abandoned the cooking and made her way over; wrenching Hermione from Arthur's grasp, she pulled her into an even tighter hug and started crying on Hermione's shoulder;

"Oh, it's so good to have you home again," then pulling back, she attempted to put on a stern, motherly look, through the tears, "Don't you ever run off like that again," she scolded,

"I won't Molly. And I'm so sorry I did it in the first place," Hermione said timidly, not meting Molly's eyes. Molly pulled her into yet another bone-crushing hug. Over Molly's shoulder, Hermione was able to see to the doorway leading out of the kitchen, a moment before it had been empty, but now a very-pregnant Ginny was framed there, a young boy hiding behind her leg, clearly unsure about who was the source of all the disturbance.

Hermione gently pulled herself out of Molly's grasp, took a deep breath, and stepped around to face Ginny,

"Hi Ginny," She said nervously, Ginny didn't smile, but she didn't scowl either; she was keeping a well preserved mask in place,

"Hi Hermione," she answered, courteously, "You're blonde," she stated, gesturing to Hermione's hair,

Hermione smiled, "Yeah, well more caramel than blonde. But definitely lighter than my natural colour" she answered nervously,

"Did it help?" Ginny asked bluntly,

"Help?"

"Did changing your hair colour help you move on from us, make everything alright?" she asked dryly

"Not really," Hermione answered slowly, "It was a spur of the moment decision, but I like the result"

"Which result? The colour, or the apparent amnesia?"

"Okay," Harry interrupted, sensing an outburst any moment now, intending to head Ginny off before she really built up her steam. Taking the other bag from Hermione, he walked over to Ginny, "Why don't we move back into the sitting room, Ginny; George and Arthur can accompany us. Molly, Maybe Hermione can give you a hand in the kitchen?"

"Of course," Molly acquiesced, cottoning on to Harry's intentions immediately, she turned to Hermione, "I wouldn't mind the extra help,"

Ginny allowed herself to be steered back into the sitting room, but not without a snort of laughter, saying as she went, "Yeah right, you just want to get me out of the way so I don't snap at Hermione. Blame it on the hormones."

Hermione bit her lip, guiltily, but couldn't help but smile as she turned to Molly. Before Hermione could ask where her assistance was needed, Molly spoke up,

"Don't worry too much about Ginny, she's very close to her due date, and her hormones are even worse this time around. Chances are she'll be crying on your shoulder by the end of the day."

Hermione laughed, "I don't know, if I remember rightly, she can really hold out on a grudge when she sets her mind to it."

"You have a point there, dear. Can I trouble you to get those glasses down from the top shelf, just over there? Now you're here we may as well open the wine, and get the festivities flowing," Molly asked, turning back to check on one of the many simmering saucepans,

"Of course," Hermione turned, and took a chair over to the large cabinet, climbing up she was able to reach the very top shelf, taking down two glasses she called back, "How many are we needing?"

"Eight, please dear," Molly called, turning back to Hermione, she frowned, "Hermione, what on earth are you doing?"

"Getting the glasses down," Hermione answered, slightly confused, "Am I getting the wrongs ones?"

"No, no, but if you can't reach them, why don't you use your wand?"

Hermione laughed, and blushed ever so slightly, "Erm, I actually forgot." Hermione answered, becoming more embarrassed by the second, "I've gotten so used to functioning without magic, and functioning in the muggle world, it's second nature to do things the muggle way. I'm sorry,"

Molly laughed, "Don't apologise," she assured her, as Hermione stepped down, placed the two glassed on the sideboard, then pulled out her wand to summon the remaining six, "Tell me about this muggle village you've been living in, and your business – though, perhaps we ought to wait for others, I'm sure they're all dying to know about your life in the north."

As Hermione and Molly prepared a round of drinks in the kitchen, Harry was trying to reason with Ginny in the living room, "Just try not jump down her throat too hard, Gin, she's terrified as it is,"

"Well, that's what a guilty conscience will do to you," Ginny retorted, then sighed "But fine. I'm only bitter because I've missed her" she qualified,

"We know, but Hermione will think you just pissed at her: and before you say it, she is expecting you all to be pissed at her, she believes she deserves it" Harry told her, Ginny simply raised her eyebrows,

"Well…"

"Enough" Arthur spoke quietly, "Now, lets go bring her in, she can't hide in the kitchen forever," he left his seat as he spoke, and went into the kitchen, returning moments later closely followed by Molly and Hermione, who carried a tray of glasses, and a bottle of wine between them. Setting the tray onto the coffee table, Hermione seated herself on the sofa, in the spare seat next to Harry. Ginny was sat on the chair facing her, her husband perched on the arm at her side, her son playing by her feet. George sat himself on the sofa on the other side of Harry, and Molly took the other armchair near the fire. Arthur poured the wine, handing round the glasses (handing out orange juice to Ginny and her son), and then proceeded to his seat, next to Molly.

Before an uncomfortable silence could ensue, George introduced Ginny's husband, suddenly recalling that Hermione had never met him, "Hermione, this is Robert. Ginny say's he's her _other_ half, I personally think he's her _better _half." He said with a smirk, to which Ginny responded by sending her son's toy flying at George's head, as Rob leaned over to shake Hermione's hand smiling,

"Hi," Hermione spoke, her throat a little dry from nerves,

"Hey, good to finally meet you. You can call me Rob, and this is Declan, our son" he gestured to the child at there feet, "He's a little shy now, but once the sugar gets in his system in a few hours time, you'll be relishing this silence,"

Hermione laughed, as George spoke again, "Right, now we're all her, spill it Granger," he commanded genially, "Tell us all about your muggle coffee shop and book store."

Hermione spent the next few hours detailing everything she could about Robin Hood's Bay and Whitby, about her coffee shop – Mr Weasley was particularly interested about all the muggle contraptions she used, and she spent a good deal of time trying to explain all the internal workings of her coffee machine, promising him to let him see the thing in person and demonstrate how it worked. With George she spent near a half hour discussing the business management side of her store; her incomings and outgoings, her plans for the future of her business. Throughout her recital, Hermione became more relaxed, helped infinitely by Harry, who maintained his presence at her side continually; before too long his arm was over the back of the couch, draping round her shoulders, the pair leaning into each other naturally - while this movement was unconsciously done by Harry and Hermione, everyone else in the room noticed the subtle movement, yet never said a word, not wanting to bring back the awkwardness so recently left. The only person to remain silent – excepting when she spoke to her son or her husband – was Ginny, and she remained silent, until dinner was served.

Hermione was sat between Harry and Ginny at the dinner table, and in the first lull in the conversation, as everyone was taking their first bites of Mrs Weasley's fabulous cooking, Ginny finally spoke,

"Why Hermione?" she asked quietly, causing a hush over the already quiet table,

"Sorry?" Hermione said, unsure what exactly Ginny was asking,

"Why?" She repeated, "Why did you leave and not speak to us for ten years?"

Hermione took a breath, but it was Harry who answered, "Come on Ginny, do we have to do this now?"

"Yes, Harry," Ginny flared up, leaning as much around Hermione as her pregnant belly enabled her, "I want to know why she abandoned us. After ten years of silence and worry, I think I deserve some sort of answer, don't you?"

Hermione put her hand on Harry's thigh, as Ginny leaned back into her chair, "It's ok," she said, and turned back to Ginny in time to se her take a deep steadying breath as she rubbed her lower stomach: no one else seemed to have noticed this brief moment before Ginny collected herself, so Hermione continued, "I was expecting this since the moment I walked through the door: You're right, you deserve an explanation, the best I can give you,"

Hermione then went on to bare her soul, telling her story as she had told Harry months ago, when he had first found her: she once again relived those first few weeks of her disappearance, her initial intention to return, her spontaneous property purchase, and the snowball effect her avoidance of returning had manifested into.

All throughout her tale, every eye of the family was upon her; Hermione's eyes however, were constantly flicking to her friend beside her, who every now a then would breath in and out deeply, but calmly, and rub her swollen stomach. By the time Hermione had finished her story, they were onto desert: as the others cleared the dinner course, and went about setting for desert Hermione turned to Ginny, and whispered quietly,

"You can decide whether or not I'm forgiven later, but first you need to tell me how long you've been in labour."

Ginny looked at her surprised, but surprise soon gave way to derision,

"Still the same, you're always miles ahead of everyone else, noticing what everyone else misses."

"Are you ok? Shouldn't we maybe tell someone and get you to hospital?"

Ginny waved her hand in dismissal, "Don't worry about it, my water's haven't even broke, I've got ages yet."

Hermione shook her head as the rest of the family returned to the table, desert being served along the way, "Still as stubborn as always," Hermione smiled.

As they all tucked in to a sublime Christmas Pudding, George spoke up, wearing his trademark mischievous grin, "So, now we know all about your years in exile up in the remote corners of Yorkshire, let's get down to the real gossip. You and Harry, are you finally a couple yet? In it for long haul?" he asked outright, bringing a deafening silence to the table, broken only by Hermione who was almost choking on the pudding she had just about inhaled, clearing her throat, she reached for her drink as George continued,

"Ahhh, judging by the slight embarrassment and awkwardness between you two, you haven't actually had that conversation yet have you?" George inquired with a wicked grin. Harry responded simply with a glare, Hermione brought her glass to her mouth and whispered to Ginny, "Now would be a really good moment for a pregnancy related diversion, I'm thinking you could maybe mention you contractions," Hermione begged, before taking a mouthful of wine,

"Good" Ginny said quietly, "I think I can help, my waters have just broken"

Hermione sprayed the wine across the table, causing a stir with the rest of the family, "Are you sure?" she asked, not bothering to keep her voice down,

"I think I'd know, check the chair if you like," Ginny snapped,

"What's going on?" asked George,

"My water's have broke, I'm in labour" Ginny stated, bringing the house into a total state of confusion.

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><p><em><strong>AN: The long awaited Weasley Christmas, I hope it has lived up to expectations. I realise there hasn't been much conversation, definitely a lot less than I had originally anticipated...but Ginny is now in a labour, quite a long labour...which means a lot of time in the waiting room for Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys in the next chapter :)**_

**_Let me know your views, I'm working on the next chapter now, I hopefully won't have you waiting to long, I'll try and keep it to a week at the most._**

**_xBx_**


	17. Chapter 16 A New Arrival pt1  St Mungos

_**A/N: I'm so so so sorry about the delay - I got completely sidetracked with a different story, sudden inspiration for a plot, and I couldn't let it be until I got it down on paper. But I have an extra long chapter ready to go - so long that it's been split into two, the rest of the chapter needs finishing off, but I've made you wait too long for this one, so I've put the first part up.**_

_**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, I'm loving the feedback! And a great thank you to everyone who keeps pointing out my mistakes - hopefully there wont be any in this one, but if there is please let me know.**_

**_And now, enjoy!_**

**_xBx_**

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><p><strong>~ Chapter 16: St MungosA New Arrival ~**

The Weasley clan, along with Harry and Hermione, crowded into the reception area at St Mungo's, pushing through another family who were sporting various ailments, the likely product of an eventful Christmas lunch. The witch at the desk looked up absent-minded, "What can I help you with?" she asked sounding slightly bored,

"My daughter is in labour," announced Molly, slightly breathless,

"Strait through the doors at your left," She pointed, then taking in Ginny's entourage, she added "There's also a separate waiting area through there, so you can all go through with her."

Ginny hurried her 'thank you' before being carted off by Molly, and as the crowd thinned the Witch behind the desk finally noticed Harry, she sat up a little straighter, and smiled properly for the first time, "Harry, how are you? What brings you here on Christmas? You're not due back for another three months, am I right?"

Harry smiled, while Hermione held herself in the background looking from one to the other with a raised eyebrow and an amused expression,

"You're right," Harry said, "I'm here with the Weasleys. Part of the birth support entourage"

The witch giggled and started twirling her hair with her wand, "Of course, I should have realised, I might see you a little later on, I'm guessing you're here for the long haul" she said with a smile, Harry nodded, as Hermione moved forward to take Harry's arm, "Speaking of, the Weasley's will be wondering where we got to. See you later," she added to the witch, as she steered Harry away,

"Friend of yours?" she asked with a grin, Harry laughed,

"She's nearly always on reception, and I'm here often." Harry explained, opening the door for Hermione, as the made their way to the Weasleys, "I have to come here every six months for a full health check – It's part of the Auror contract. And then we have to come in after every assignment to get checked over, sometimes we need a few courses of treatment spells before we're fully in the clear. So yeah, she knows my face."

"I think she likes your face," Hermione said laughing,

"Jealous are we?" Harry asked

"Not at all" Hermione assured him, "What, or rather who, you did in the past is entirely your business" Harry laughed again, then put his arm around Hermione's shoulder,

"Well, _she_ was not one of them. I've never asked her out, and I think she knows I'm never going to. But it doesn't stop the flirting. Trust me, I don't even notice it anymore – after putting up with it since school, you kind of get numb to it." Harry tried to explain, accidentally making him sound more egotistical than he was: Hermione laughed,

"Wow, Harry. Don't be so modest," she teased him, sarcastically, as they came upon the waiting area in the maternity ward, causing him to redden slightly.

"You two took your time," George called when he saw them approach. He was sat around a table with Arthur, Rob and Declan.

"Harry couldn't tear himself away from his admirer," Hermione explained grinning, "Though apparently he doesn't notice the flirting anymore," she continued in mock seriousness, "Not when he's got it every day since school, he's immune apparently." Hermione laughed, George raised an eyebrow, and Harry reddened even more, "His words" Hermione clarified, "not mine,"

George let out a whoop of laughter, "Blimey Harry, you could give Draco Malfoy a run for his money with an ego like that,"

"You're taking it out of context," Harry tried to defend himself, "It wasn't supposed to sound like that. Where's Molly and Ginny?" He asked, changing the subject to avoid further embarrassment, it was Arthur who answered, while Hermione, George and Rob continued to laugh.

"Molly is with Ginny. Helping her settle into her room. We men would only get in their way, so we thought it best to leave them to it," He said with a grin, as Harry took a seat,

Hermione looked around, "I think I'll go in search of some tea, we could be here for a while,"

"Biscuits would be good as well!" George called after her, as Hermione turned to leave the boys to do whatever it is men do in the maternity ward. On the way she passed by Ginny's room, just as Molly was coming out;

"Hi Molly," Hermione greeted, "I was just on my way to grab us all some tea, can I get you and Ginny anything while I'm at it?"

"Great minds think alike," Molly smiled, "I was just on my way to do the very same," The pair went in search of the tea trolley together,

"How's Ginny doing?" Hermione asked,

"She's going along slowly," Molly sighed, "her contractions are still a fair while apart," she explained

"Guess we should be settling in for the long haul then" Hermione said as the finally came upon the trolley, and began to help themselves to a generous supply of tea and cakes: Hermione conjured up a tray to carry the mountain of cups and plates for the others back in the waiting room.

Molly left Hermione back at Ginny's room, saying before she passed through the door, "When you've handed the boys their provisions, please come and join us, I think Ginny would be glad of your company,"

"I wouldn't be in the way?" Hermione clarified,

"Of course not dear," Molly smiled, "We'll see you in a couple of minutes."

Hermione took the tray back to the waiting room, passed out the teas, and left the plate of biscuits on the small coffee table, she then left the men to their talk – they had gone quickly quiet as she had returned, making her think they were possibly grilling Harry about herself.

"I'll see you guys in a bit, I'm going to hang out with Ginny and Molly for a little while,"

"Good luck," George wished her as she walked away; as soon as Hermione was out of earshot, he turned back to Harry, "So, Harry. Let's talk, man to men" he gestured to himself and the others, "Level with us, Harry. What's the deal with you and Hermione?"

"What do you mean, 'what's the deal?'?"

"What's the relationship status? Are you actually a couple now? Or are you still masquerading as friends?"

Harry sighed, leaned back and stared into his mug, "I don't know what we are," he answered truthfully, "I love her, and I've been in love with her for years. But we've just been re-establishing our friendship: we're both completely different now, we've been through a lot, and we've lived separate lives for ten years – we've been on our own for almost as long. We need to get used to having each other back in our lives again before we start discussing the seriousness of our relationship."

"But do you believe it to be serious?" Arthur asked, seriously. "And, more to the point, what are Hermione's expectations? Does she believe it's serious, does she want it to be serious? Because if she does, and you don't….well, the girl has been through a lot: opening up emotionally has never been a strong point for her, I'm guessing it will be even harder now; after ten years of silence, the last thing she needs is another heartbreak" Arthur finished solemnly.

Harry looked up, looking Arthur straight in the eye: "Do you really doubt my intentions?" He asked incredulously, "I've been waiting solely for her for eight years, looking for her even longer: the time-frame expectancy for this relationship is unquestionably never-ending. I will be spending the rest of my life with her: now I've got her back I'm never letting her go.

"But I know she's going to need some time to get comfortable, some time to settle back in, and I get that. I do. I've been looking for her for ten years, she's finally back in my life now, I can wait as long as it takes for her to be ready for a relationship, to be ready for me. But I'm sure as hell not going to let her get away again.

But Marriage isn't on the cards just yet, if that's what you're thinking" He finished with a grin, to which George, Rob and Arthur all laughed.

"Well, I guess that clears it up a little bit," commented Rob, "Does this mean the hero has finally got his girl?" He joked with a grin,

"I think 'hero' is a bit over the top, but yeah, I guess this is the start of the Happy Ending" Harry said with a smile,

"Good God, Harry, did you lose you dick on the way here? That was the girliest comment I've every heard you speak!" exclaimed George, sounding and looking slightly disgusted – until Harry pulled out his wand, thought 'levicorpus' and dangled George in the air, by his ankles.

###

Meanwhile, in the birthing suite down the hall, Ginny, Molly and Hermione had spend the better part of two hours discussing Ginny's Quidditch career, before touching on the past ten years of Hermione's life. The conversations took place in between Ginny's contractions, which still weren't getting any closer together.

As Ginny caught her breath following her most recent contraction, she questioned Hermione about the development of her and Harry's relationship: "So, Hermione," she began, slightly breathless, "What happened when Harry found you? _How_ did he find you?"

"I don't really know how, to be honest," Hermione started, addressing the final question, first, "I think he came to Robin Hood's Bay as a last resort – he knew I used to go there a lot when I was young, with my parents: I don't think he really expected me to be there because of the memories the place might have held. And to be honest, his instincts were good – when I first went there I didn't expect to linger for that very reason. But the place was so different to my memories that I couldn't really feel my parents presence there. It felt completely new to me, and the place was too beautiful to resist, so much so that I ended up staying. What happened when he found me, you asked?" Hermione smiled, and rolled her eyes, "True to our typical selves we argued: I lost my temper, shouted and screamed, I even threw something at him I think. Then he stormed out into the night" she finished,

Ginny laughed, "very typical," she agreed, before another contraction took over. Hermione approached the bedside, taking Ginny's hand, breathing with her through the pain. When the pain had subsided again, Ginny continued questioning Hermione, "So, after you threw him out, how long before he came back to apologise?" she said with a breathless smile,

Hermione took a seat by the bed, "Well, apparently he was there the very next day, and the day after, and every day for the next week, but he was under his invisibility cloak." Hermione laughed, "He finally revealed himself though, and we managed to have a somewhat civil conversation. It took a while, a few days really, to get used to be around each other again, but we eventually got comfortable. After a while he started asking more questions about why I stopped using magic, trying to get me start using it again: of course I was a bit defensive at first, and we argued yet again. But he never gave up; he didn't push me too far though, or too quickly, but he definitely never gave up on me either," she remembered fondly,

"So, when did you properly become a couple?" Ginny asked bluntly, Hermione wasn't sure how to answer, she wasn't even sure of the answer herself.

She blushed and stammered slightly as she tried to respond, "We're not really….I mean…erm…I don't really know what we are," she finished lamely, she sighed and continued, "Getting to know Harry again after ten years apart, allowed me to get to know him on a completely different level, to see him in a different light, in a way. I think it allowed me to realise there was something more than friendship there," she admitted.

Ginny laughed, and Molly smiled as she said: "I think what you mean, dear, is that you finally realised you've been in love with him for years"

Hermione laughed, "I guess you're right," she agreed, just as Ginny was gripped by another contraction.

"That one felt worse than the last," commented Ginny, through clenched teeth,

"And I think they're starting to get closer together also, if only slightly," added Molly, "Looks like we might me finally getting somewhere,"

"Shall I call a healer in?" asked Hermione,

"No, not yet," Ginny shook her head, "We may be getting somewhere, but there's still a long wait. And anyway, I want to hear all the juicy stuff from you first"

"Are you sure?" questioned Hermione, Ginny rolled her eyes,

"Hermione relax, I've been through this once before, I know what to expect. Now tell me, I know you two are taking it slow – much slower than really necessary I would wager – but please tell me you've at least given into the passion and slept together already"

Hermione blushed "Ginny! Seriously?"

"Hermione, I'm about to push a tiny human through my vagina: I'm allowed to say what I want and blame it on the pain and hormones. The least you can do for me, in said paid, is tell me all the dirty details. And if you haven't done the deed already, can you please get a move on, I don't know about you, but Harry really needs to get laid soon: he's been so tense and cranky for ages, it's no fun for the rest of us" Ginny stated, Hermione laughed in shock, but answered her with a blush, all the same,

"Fine. Yes, we have. Satisfied?"

""Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Ginny smirked, before another contraction hit, just as one of the healers appeared to check on her progress:

"Right, dear, let's have a look shall we?" she bustled over to Ginny; Hermione moved away from the bed as the healer proceed to give Ginny the once-over.

"Hmm, well, we're definitely moving in the right direction, although we're moving at a snails pace it seems, I'm afraid." Ginny let out an exasperated sigh, as the healer continued apologetically, "You're only 4cm dilated, it's two more than when you first arrived, which is a positive. But it looks like you're going to be here for a while yet." The healer smiled encouragingly, before leaving the room. Hermione returned to the bedside,

"Shall I go and update the guys?" she asked, Ginny nodded,

"Thanks, that would be good. And could you send Rob and Declan in – I'd like to see Declan before the pain gets too much I think,"

Hermione nodded, "of course, do want anything else getting?"

"Nah, my husband can run around for me for a while" she smiled, "But there is something you can do," she added slyly,

"Anything," Hermione assured her quickly, assuming it would be pregnancy/birth related,

"Use the time to talk to Harry. By the time this baby is born I want you both to know exactly where you stand, I want a full and official relationship status by the time we're through here."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Fine" she consented, "anything else?"

Ginny grinned, "Nope, that will be all."

Hermione turned to leave, calling before she closed the door, "I'll come check in later on, see how you're going."

Hermione made her way back to the waiting area, stopping short when she got there to take in the sight before her: All four men were leaning back in their chairs, heads tilted back, mouths open, all almost to the point of drooling, and all unquestionably asleep. Aside from Declan, who had taken this precious opportunity to climb onto the seat next to his father and quietly crumble a biscuit in his hand to then sprinkle sneakily into his father's hair.

"Seriously?" Hermione spoke incredulously, as well as loudly, causing each male to jump awake in their own special way: Arthur's was perhaps the most dignified, he merely cleared his throat, shook his head, and reached for his cup. George, on the other hand, jumped to his feet exclaiming, "I didn't do anything I swear!" While Harry sat bolt upright saying, "I wasn't asleep, I swear it," trying to convince the whole room in general more than any one particular person. At the same time, Rob jerked forward, blurting out "Huh? Who called?" followed quickly by, "What the hell?" as a cascade of crumbs fell from his hair into his lap, accompanied by a gale of mischievous laughter from Declan.

Hermione merely shook her head at the group, complete with the raised-eyebrows of Hermione-ish disapproval. She then focused on Robert, "Rob, Ginny would like to see you, and Declan as well. She's not much further along yet, so we've got a long wait ahead, I think she may be a little frustrated at the speed of proceedings. Just to let you know."

Rob stretched himself out and rose to his feet, "Thanks for the heads up. Come on trouble," he added to his son, taking his hand, "let's go see how your mum's doing, and keep her company for a while."

As rob left, Hermione took a seat next to Harry, "I can't believe you all fell asleep," she reprimanded them all in mock disgust,

"It's not our fault, it's Christmas afternoon," Harry tried to defend himself, "It's a tradition to fall asleep in the afternoon, after your dinner. And, we have been here for hours already," he pointed out.

"Not hours, it's only been a couple at most," Hermione countered, George yawned then took up Harry's defence,

"Nope, we've been here a while Hermione," he checked his watch before continuing, "Nearly four hours actually, you've been in there with Ginny for about three hours" He then stood up and stretched himself out, "I think I'm going to go look for some coffee, anyone else want one?"

"Mmmm, yes please, a latte would be good thanks" Hermione said while Harry nodded, "Please mate, want a hand?"

It was Arthur who answered, however, as he stood up himself, "Not to worry, Harry, I'll go. You keep Hermione company. Your usual?"

"Yeah, thanks Arthur."

The two Weasleys departed, George giving Harry a wink as he left; a wink that didn't escape Hermione's notice.

"What was that for?" She asked Harry, her curiosity brimming.

"Oh, nothing, really, they've just been winding me up a little bit," he shrugged, "How's Ginny doing?"

"Not too bad, considering. She's moving along slowly, but she's only dilated 2cm more than -"

"Too much information," Harry cut her off, holding up his hands, Hermione laughed, then leaned her head on Harry's shoulder. "How you holding up?" he asked,

"Me? I'm fine, why?" Hermione felt Harry shrug, underneath her.

"Just making sure it hasn't been too overwhelming for you. It's been pretty chaotic for your first day back in with the family."

Hermione laughed, "honestly, after the first hour or so of being in the burrow, it was like I'd never left. And the day wouldn't have been quite right without a little bit of chaos," she added "after all, when was our life ever anything but chaotic?" she asked with a smile, causing Harry to chuckle.

"I can't disagree with that" Harry acquiesced, "So, what were you and Ginny talking about for so long?"

"A bit of everything really: we discussed her Quidditch career for a little while," she started, before carrying on slightly nervously, "then, she started grilling me about us."

Harry sighed and laughed a the same time, "Yeah, I got the same thing from the guys." He admitted, "Looks like the Weasley clan are on a mission"

Hermione giggled before continuing, "Ginny wants an official status of our relationship by the time the baby is born." She stated while rolling her eyes, "Luckily for us, though, this baby will take hours to arrive." Hermione laughed as she spoke, but Harry frowned,

"We need hours to figure out our relationship?" He asked, "Surely we're not that complicated?"

"I don't think _we're_ complicated," Hermione clarified, "Rather, I think_ I'm_ complicated. No, I know I am. With everything that has happened in the past few months, my head is all over the place at the moment, and sometimes I can feel quite overwhelmed with it all. But, I know that it's worth it, I get to keep you by my side." Hermione carried on, suddenly speaking her feelings with more courage than she ever thought she would have,

"I know that I love you. And I no know that I have loved you for years – long before I left I believe – I was just in denial. The way I feel when I am with you, the way I've always felt when I was around you, I never felt that with Ron. Don't get me wrong, I loved him, I did. And a part of me always will, but it's not the same as the way I love you. I can't explain it. I just know that I'm over being alone; I'm over being afraid of my feelings. I'm yours for as long as you want, and I won't be going anywhere again. That bit at least, isn't complicated" she finished.

"I'm always going to want you" Harry stated without a moments hesitation, and being just as frank as Hermione had been, he continued, "I've been in love you with you for years. And I have known it for nearly as many years, as well, - though everyone else seemed to know it for a lot longer. Except Ginny, she didn't realise until I realised. Or maybe we both knew it, we just ignored it, tried to maintain our little bubble, I don't know. But that's not the point. The point is, I know you are the only woman I am ever going to want to be with. I'm definitely not going anywhere, and if you think I'm going to let you slip away again, then the muggle world has left you delusional-" Hermione laughed, and Harry pulled her closer, smiling,

"I know it's been chaotic for you, I know it's been a lot to take in, but whenever you're ready, I'm here you for you. I'm all yours, and that's not going change. Just don't make me wait too long, I'm pushing thirty now, apparently I should be thinking of settling down, Molly is constantly telling me." Harry smiled as he spoke in jest, letting a slight chuckle slip out, and Hermione laughed again, before speaking slowly,

"So, to answer Ginny's question," She spoke carefully, suddenly feeling quite nervous, "We're in a fully committed relationship?" It was meant to be a statement, but it ended up coming out as a question.

"Are we?" Harry asked, turning to look at Hermione, surprised by her sudden forwardness and willingness to commit,

"Aren't we?" Hermione asked slowly, looking up at Harry, starting to worry that she had been too forward, and slightly surprised by Harry's reluctance,

"Yeah, I would like to think that we are there yeah. I just wasn't sure you we're wanting that yet – We don't have to rush this, if you're not ready - "

"I'm ready, I'm there." Hermione assured him with a smile,

"Ready to tell everyone?" He clarified,

"They're all expecting it anyway," Hermione sighed, strangely relieved that they had come to an open understanding and that they were finally on the same page. A playful smile graced her lips, and she turned to smirk at Harry, as she remembered their arrival, "The question is are you ready to tell your girlfriend at the front desk that you're seeing someone else. You're going to break her heart you know?" She put on a mock-stern expression.

Harry's expression was less than amused, "That's not funny. I could still change my mind about you know." He threatened, Hermione simply laughed, and put her arms about his neck,

"No you won't. You love me too much" she counted, before kissing him full on the lips.

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><p><strong><em>AN: There it is, Part one of the next instalment. I've lost count of how many times I had to re-write some of the conversations, but I got there in the end. Again, I'm really sorry for the delay, but thank you all for your patience, I only hope this chapter was worth waiting for._**

**_Let me know what you think, I'll try and have to next part up soon_**

**_xBx_**


	18. Chapter 17 A New Arrival pt2 The Birth

**_A/N: Wow! I think it must be a record...I updated within the week! surprised? lol _  
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**_Anyway, thank you to everyone who has read this piece so far, I hope you're all continuing to enjoy reading it - I know I'm enjoying writing it! There's not many more chapters left to go._**

**_Thank you to everyone who has reviewed! The support I'm getting is fantastic, and I really appreciate the time you guys take to let me know your thoughts. _**

**_Hope you enjoy this update :)_**

**_xBx_**

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><p><strong>DISCLAIMER: I own nothing related to Harry Potter, nor Harry Potter himself...life would be much sweeter if I did *sigh* But, alas, JK Rowling owns all...<strong>

**~ Chapter 17: St Mungos/A New Arrival Pt2 ~**

"Seriously guys? We leave you alone for half an hour. This is a place where babies are born, not made." George's voice broke through Harry and Hermione's little bubble. The pair broke apart and looked toward the voice: George made his way around to the chair he had vacated a little over a half hour ago, followed by Arthur who set down a new tray of provisions onto the coffee table.

"Half an hour to go get coffee?" Harry asked George disbelievingly, "What the hell did you do? Collect the beans yourself?"

"We called in on Ginny, only for five minutes though. Man she is cranky" George started to explain,

"Well, what do you expect?" Hermione defended, "She's been here for hours, in labour for longer. It's now coming up to 9pm, she's going to be here for many more hours, and she's trying to push a tiny human out of her va-"

"Stop!" George interrupted at the same time as Harry held up his hands making a "Gah!" sound of discomfort, Hermione laughed as she reached for her latte, "Thanks for this" she added

"No graphic statements thanks" George continued, "As I was saying, we called in on Ginny for five minutes, than dawdled about for a while. We thought we'd give you two some time to yourselves. Luckily we didn't delay much longer, god knows what we would have walked back into if we did" he chuckled.

Harry, who had just reached for his own coffee, picked up a biscuit and threw it at George's head. Hermione rolled her eyes as the missile hit its target,

"In ten years I would have thought you both would have matured somewhat," she said in semi-disapproval, though it was said with a smile to lessen the reprimand.

George chuckled once again, "Unfortunately, your absence meant we were lacking your discipline; we've been running amok with out you to keep us in line,"

Hermione laughed outright, "And when did you ever heed my advice? Harry may have listened to be on the _very_ rare occasion, but you certainly never paid attention to my advice what so ever. Your maturity – or rather your lack of – is nothing to do with me." She said with a smile.

The foursome continued to chat happily for another hour, conversation punctuated with the odd yawn. Not long after, Rob returned carrying Declan, who was fast asleep in his arms. After placing his son gently on a seat and conjuring up a blanket to lovingly cover him, he allowed himself fall into the vacant seat next to him letting out a long yawn, and excessive stretch as he did so.

Hermione smiled, and voiced the question on everyone's lips, "How's Ginny doing?"

"She's not too bad. Moving along a bit now, managed to get up to 7cm. And we seem to be moving quicker" He explained, before yawning again, "She's a little out of it at the minute though, she's just been given her first dose of Torpor Elixir" He explained,

"Torpor Elixir?" Hermione asked, having never heard of this particular brew before.

"It numbs her from the waist down" Rob explained, "But it's made her drowsy."

"Ahh," Hermione nodded in understanding. "An epidural in potion form. If only the muggles knew about that, they'd go crazy for it."

"What's an epidural?" Asked George, brow furrowed,

"It's the same as the potion," Hermione explained, with a dismissive wave of her hand, "Just administered a little differently,"

The men looked at her, waiting for her to continue, she laughed, "You guys freak out about the mention of 'cm's of dilation'," she stated, to which each mad shuddered. Hermione shook her head, "you really want to know?"

Rob waved his hand in dismissal, "Come on, it can't be that bad, if the muggles can handle it, I'm sure we can"

Hermione sat up straighter and smiled, "okay then. It's an injection. Quite a dangerous one actually, if you contract during administration it can cause permanent paralysis. But anyway, it's administered into your lower back, right at the spinal column and the needle is about," she held up her hands roughly 8cm apart, "this big. Pretty thick too. It's huge," she added, smiling as she saw the four of them fidget in their seats, trying to keep their composure while resisting the urge to shudder, "Right. Into. Your. Spine." She added again, slowly for dramatic effect, then laughed at the pale faces looking back at her. George spoke first,

"Yeah, I didn't need the details." Hermione laughed again, and mumbled "pussies" under her breath, though still loud enough for some of them to hear. Rob laughed, Harry raised his eyebrows in slight shock,

"I'm sorry?" Harry asked incredulously, "Did you just call us 'pussies'?"

Hermione shrugged, "If the cap fits," she stated, causing the others to laugh again.

After another hour or so of general chit-chat, Hermione decided to call in on Ginny once again, this time taking Harry along with her, as he was the only other member of the group still actually awake.

"Hey Gin. How you doing?" Harry asked her quietly, hoping not to wake Molly, who was sleeping in an armchair, at the other side of Ginny's bed.

"I'm tired, I'm hungry. The potion is wearing off, and I'm still only 8cm's" she complained. "I can't take a nap, because every time I'm just about to drift into sleep, another contraction rips trough me."

"Can we get you anything?" Hermione asked, hesitantly, not sure what to say or do to not anger Ginny any further.

"Do you know where my husband is?" she asked suddenly, and somewhat abruptly. Hermione looked at Harry, not sure what to say, as Ginny continued, "He said he was going to go put Declan down, get a drink, then come back. That was 2 hours ago."

"Erm," Hermione started, feeling that this news was going to piss off Ginny even more, she really didn't want to tell her that her husband was enjoying his second nap of the evening so she elbowed Harry forward.

Harry cleared his throat, "Rob and Declan are in the waiting lounge, with your father and George" Harry started, "asleep," he added quietly.

Ginny closed her eyes and took a deep calming breath, Harry instinctively took a step back as she began to speak through clenched teeth, "Go wake him, and send him in. He did this to me, if I'm not sleeping he's not sleeping!"

"Right away," Hermione answered, quickly slipping out of the door before Harry could even take a step.

Hermione was only gone twenty minutes at the most, but it felt like a lifetime to Harry, who had no idea what to do or say to keep Ginny's temper from boiling over.

"Are you going to stand there awkwardly all evening Harry, or are you going to talk to me?" Ginny asked, slightly waspishly, after five minutes of uncomfortable silence.

"I'll talk, what would like me to talk about?" Harry asked, before adding, "Do you want another potion bringing? A calming draught maybe? Or another dose of the Torpor Elixir?"

Ginny shook her head, "No, a calming draught can interfere with the Torpor, and I had my last dose of elixir half an hour ago. You need to leave it at least 3 hours between doses." Ginny explained,

"Ah," Harry said quietly, "ok."

"Have you and Hermione sorted yourselves out yet?" she asked bluntly,

"Sorted ourselves out?" Harry asked, taken aback by the sudden change of subject.

Ginny let out an exasperated sigh, "Have you sorted out where you stand? Gods be good, you're twenty-eight, not fourteen anymore! There are these things called words, you know," Ginny started to rant condescendingly, Harry smiled and let her get it of her system, "they're the sounds we make from our mouths, when you string these words together they form sentences. This is how we communicate. Do it." She commanded.

"Are you finished?" Harry asked with a grin, "We have communicated, thank you very much. It's not something we find particularly difficult to do, I might add. We were just simply taking our time. And Yes, I'm aware of my age, but come on Ginny, I'm only twenty-eight! My life is still really only starting out, I've only just got my career fully established."

Ginny cut him off, "Yeah, yeah. Blah, blah, blah," she waved a hand dismissively, "You said you and Hermione 'communicated'. What's the verdict?" She got strait to the point.

"What exactly were you all expecting? A marriage proposal?" Harry laughed in rhetoric, "For the past few weeks we've just been going with the flow, not rushing anything, letting things progress in their own time" Harry explained, deciding it best to not toy with Ginny too much in her heightened hormonal state, "no labels, no commitments, nothing major. Just getting to know each other again at our own pace, our own way, in our own time. But now, we're ready for that definition that everyone seems to want to know; we're both in the same place, and we're both happy for everyone to know what we are and where we are."

"Which is?" Ginny probed, when Harry seemed likely to stop talking, "Come on, what's the status?"

Harry rolled his eyes, "We're in a fully committed, serious relationship." He said with a smile. Ginny smiled back, one of the first genuinely happy smiles she had given in the past few hours.

"Well, it's about time," she said approvingly, "Does this mean she's definitely back for good then? She won't be running away any time soon?" Ginny asked unguardedly. Harry looked at her probingly, a sudden thought occurring to him, which he hadn't initially thought of before,

"That was your main issue with her return wasn't it? Why you we're reluctant to fully let her back into your life again? You we're afraid she was going to run out on you again." He stated, Ginny didn't say anything, which made Harry think he was getting pretty close to the truth: if he were wrong, Ginny would certainly have let him know. Harry pressed on, "Is that why you were so keen for Hermione and I to define our relationship? To find out how serious we were? You figured if we decided that we were in it for the long haul, you'd know she wouldn't be leaving us again?"

Again, Ginny didn't answer right away, she simply looked at Harry, chewing her lip nervously. Finally she spoke, "Fine, I'll admit it, I wasn't sure she was back to stay. Ever since you mentioned that you had found her, I was waiting for you to come home one day and tell us all she'd done another runner. I half expected her to avoid dinner today as well. And even the optimistic part of me that expected her to join us for Christmas, was unwilling to bet that she might still be around six months down the line. She was my best girl friend all throughout school, Harry. Luna was a very close second, and in the last ten years she has become somewhat of a sister to me – she's Godmother to Declan, I love her to bits – but she's no Hermione, she could never fill that void. I didn't want to let Hermione back in, only to have her walk out on us again, I don't want to go through that again." Ginny told him honestly, then seeming to realise how much of her emotions she had laid on the line, she grumbled: "Stupid potions and hormones, got no control any more."

Harry laughed and walked over to the bed, taking one of Ginny's hands in his, "Hermione is here to stay. I can promise you that much. I certainly won't be letting her get away again."

"When's she moving in with you?" Ginny asked, once again being as blunt as a sledgehammer. Harry dropped her hand and took a step back, shaking his head.

"You Weasley's just don't give up do you?"

Ginny grinned, "Nah," she said, just as the door opened, and the arrival of Hermione and Rob saved Harry from answering.

"Sorry I took so long," Hermione apologised hesitantly, "He proved rather difficult to wake; when I finally managed to bring him back to the land of the living, I ploughed him with a few extra-concentrated espresso shots. He should be good for a few hours now."

Ginny laughed, "Thanks Hermione, don't suppose you have some for my Mother? She's been out like a light for nearly an hour, much longer and she'll start snoring. And that is the last thing I need right now."

Harry and Hermione spent the next half an hour in with Ginny and Rob: Ginny's contractions were increasing rapidly, which left little time for fully-fledged conversation. When Molly finally awoke from her much needed slumber, and a couple of maternity Healers came in to check on Ginny's progress yet again, Harry and Hermione took their leave, and went in search of something more substantial to eat than cakes and biscuits.

With nothing but the tea and coffee station situated in the maternity ward, they had to venture back into the main part of St Mungos to find the sustenance they craved. Thirty minutes later they returned back to the waiting area, laden down with a varied selection of cold food from the cafeteria – extra portions for when the others awoke, knowing they would probably be hungry when they did.

Harry conjured a blanket, Hermione a number of pillows, and the pair sat down to a make shift pic-nic in the centre of the waiting room. Half-way through their supper – or rather their mid-night feast as it was now approaching 1am – Declan awoke and wanted to share some of their plunder: He managed to get through half a sandwich before falling asleep on the blanket, amidst a pile of pillows. Harry pulled Declan's blanket from the chair and covered him back up, Hermione looked up at the clock.

"I can't believe I have to be at work in like nine hours time, and I haven't even been to bed yet."

"You're really going into work?" Harry asked, Hermione shrugged.

"It's not like I can call in sick, I own the place." She said, handing Harry a tub of butterscotch pudding, and taking one for herself, "If Ginny still hasn't had the baby, I guess I'll post a note to the door saying I'm closed for the day, so I'd have to go back at least for half an hour. But it's my business, I can't neglect it."

"I know, I get that, I just wasn't sure if Boxing Day was a regular working day for you is all." Harry reassured her, knowing how edgy she could get about her business. Hermione dipped into her pudding before answering.

"Yeah, I usually open about ten- maybe eleven AM. Never really open for long, it's usually the regular tourists – they own homes up there" Hermione went on to explain as Harry gave her a blank look, "They come down on the holidays; usually on Boxing day the women and kids come for a drink around lunch time, while the men are in the pub. Then they go off to join their men about two in the afternoon. Which is when I close."

"Then what do you do?"

"What do you think I do?" Hermione asked with a smile,

"Clean up, then go up to your flat?"

Hermione laughed, "Nah, the place is already clean – hardly any customers so it just needs a wipe down. No, I cash up, grab the tips then go and join them." Harry let out a bark of laughter, to which Hermione reprimanded him with, "Shhh! People are trying to sleep" she laughed.

Harry smothered his laughter, "I'm sorry, but I wasn't expecting that. Making off with the tips." He shook his head, Hermione laughed as well.

"They're my tips, what else am I going to use them for?"

"Can I ask you a question? And don't get offended or fly off the handle, I'm just curious is all" Harry asked, sobering up slightly,

"Anything," Hermione assured him, "I'll be on my best behaviour"

"Do you think you'll ever work in the magical world? At the Ministry maybe? Or Hogwarts?"

"Harry, I -" Hermione started, but Harry interrupted: "I know, you have your business. But just hear me out. You've left Katie in charge a couple of times now, what if you were to do that more often. Not right away of course, I'm talking further in the future. And not an abrupt change, but maybe go part-time to start with, share the responsibility with Katie."

"It's a possibility, I'll give you that. With Katie I mean. But Harry, I've been away for too long, there definitely wouldn't be a place in the Ministry for me, and I think even Hogwarts would be pushing my luck." Hermione vanished her empty pudding pot, then laid herself down, resting her head in Harry's lap. Harry put down his own empty pudding pot, leaned back against the pillows he had propped against a chair, and started to run his fingers through Hermione's hair.

Hermione sighed and let her eyelids flutter, as Harry's touch soothed her. Harry continued the conversation, "You'd be surprised, Hermione, a lot of people remember how bright you were at Hogwarts. You we're wanted at the Ministry before you left us, and a few departments would take you on still."

"Because I was part of the Golden Trio, and helped bring around the demise of Voldemort?" she asked, Harry smiled,

"Well, maybe that has something to do with it as well. But you academic reports alone would put you ahead of many people who have been at the Ministry for thirty years." He assured her, "And with Hogwarts. McGonagall would love to have you on the staff – come on, even in our fifth year, you know just as much, if not more than every teacher in the place. Not that I'm pressuring you or anything. Just letting you know. It's not too late to get a job here if you wanted it."

"Hmmm" Hermione sounded, getting drowsy, "Never say never, I guess," She mumbled, not really aware of what was coming out of her mouth; she was far too relaxed, and too close to sleep to really think. Within seconds she was sleeping; Harry smiled down at her, then leaned his head back and joined her in slumber.

###

The five enjoyed a few hours of peaceful repose, until Molly came rushing into the waiting area a little after 6am, shouting excitingly to wake them up:

"Up, up! Get up, it's time!" she called, pulling them all reluctantly from their slumber,

"Calm yourself down, woman!" Snapped George, who definitely wasn't a morning person.

Arthur spoke more calmly, "Is everything alright?" He asked, a little concerned at the abrupt awakening, stretching himself out of his seat.

"Yes, yes, everything's fine" Molly assured him smilingly, "She's about to go into delivery, I just came to tell you all that it's finally happening!" she explained hurriedly, as Hermione and Harry untangled themselves from pillows, blankets and each other to stand up. "I'm going to go in for the birth, but I had to let you know. I'll see you on the other side." Molly finished, before hurrying off yet again, before anyone could say anything.

Harry stretched, and then sat himself back down onto a chair with a groan, "Well it's about time," he yawned.

"It hasn't been too long really, we came here about half four yesterday?" Hermione countered, "that's what? Nearly fourteen hours? That's not a long labour – some women can be here for a couple of days." The guys just looked at her, not really taking in what she was saying, "How about I got get us all some coffee?" she said, "A bit of a caffeine kick, wake us up a bit." Hermione waited for a response, but the most she got was a "mmm" sound from Harry and Arthur, and grunt form George, and a snore from Declan, who was still sound asleep on the floor, and hadn't even woken from Molly's excited babble.

"I'll take that as a yes," she said to herself, before going on yet another coffee run.

It wasn't until they had gone through three rounds off tea and coffee, nearly two- and a-half hours later, that they heard anything from the delivery room. Rob appeared, looking exhausted but happy, and announced the new arrival.

"A fighting-fit baby girl," he announced with a grin, "8lb 2oz, born a 7:49am. Ginny's doing great, they're all back in the room now if you want to come and see them." He added, going to pick up his son, who had been awake, but quiet for the past half hour. "Did you hear that?" He asked his son, "You have a little sister! Isn't it great?"

Declan shrugged, "It would have been better if it was a boy, but I suppose a sister will be good." He said in his childish honesty, to the laughs of the rest.

The entourage made their way back to Ginny's room, quietly entering, whispering congratulations, and taking it in turns to pass the newborn around, while Ginny slipped in and out of a doze.

When Hermione was sat in the armchair next to Ginny's bed, taking her turn at holding the newborn, with Harry leaning over the side of chair, one arm around Hermione's shoulders, the other hand playing with the baby's tiny fingers, she sighed and smiled, "Ginny, she's absolutely beautiful, well done. Have you got a name for her yet?" She asked,

"We had a few ideas, but we decided on Isabella Rose." She said, "Izzy, for short."

As you would expect, the entire room cooed and ahhed over the new name; Hermione noticed the clock on the wall, and groaned at the time,

"Oh, it's nearly half-past nine, I can't believe I have to go into work soon" she moaned.

"I think we should all make a move soon," voiced Arthur, "let Ginny get some rest."

"You can't go just yet," Ginny protested, "Some things need sorting out first."

"Like what?" asked George, "Surely it can wait? You must be exhausted"

"I am," Ginny said, "But this will only take a moment" she assured them, looking meaningfully at her husband, who came to sit down next to her, on the bed. The pair turned their attention to Harry and Hermione,

"Harry," Started Rob, "We want you to be Izzy's Godfather."

"You serious?" Harry asked, a huge smile spreading onto his face,

"Of course," seconded Ginny, "You've been a great Godfather to Teddy, and now that He'll be starting Hogwarts soon,, he's growing up, we thought you should do it all again for Izzy, especially now you have Hermione by your side again. You two make the perfect team. Which brings us nicely to the next point," she said turning to Hermione, "Hermione, we'd love you to be Godmother."

Hermione looked up incredulously, "Honestly?" she asked, tears threatening to form, "Even after the crap I put you through?" she questioned, hesitantly, Ginny laughed.

"You're the obvious choice for Godmother," Ginny assured her, "And this way, you can't run off again, because you have responsibilities." She joked.

"So, what do you say?" Pushed Rob, "Will you do it?"

Harry and Hermione looked happily at each other, then looked back to Ginny and Rob,

"Of course we'll do it," Harry said, while Hermione nodded, not daring to speak as she was becoming rather emotional and it was highly likely that any sound she attempted to make would turn into a rather embarrassing sob, "We'll be thrilled." Harry finished, for the both of them.

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><p><strong><em>AN: Well, there it is. I hope you enjoyed the update. Please leave a review, let me know your thoughts - and if you spot any mistakes, please let me know so I can fix it! :)_**

**_There isn't much left of the story to go, but there are at least three chapters left - however, recently my chapters seem to be doubling up, so you never know, it could end up being six more! I have a rough outline of how the story is going to go, but the chapters still need a lot of work, so I can't promise a time frame for their completion. But I will get started on the next one in the morning._**

**_Thanks again to all my readers; thank you for sticking by me, and thank you for your reviews! keep it up!_**

**_xBx_**


	19. Chapter 18 New Year, New Path

**_A/N: I finally made it with another update - a little later than planned, for which I'm sorry._  
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**_Thank you to all my reviewers: your comments have been great, and all your input is greatly appreciated (I'm sorry I haven't replied individually to the reviews for the last few chapters, I keep meaning to do it, but my work gets in the way, and once I'm distracted, there is no turning back :( ... *sigh*)_**

**_Anyway, enough of the chit chat, time for me to give you what you're really here for ;) so read, enjoy, please review..._**

**_xBx_**

**_UPDATED 1st June, 2012: Just had to re-write a couple of sentences. A HUGE Thank You to _HP.HG. fan forever _for pointing out the epic mistake I made regarding Teddy's age - I have adjusted the chapter accordingly :D _**

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><p><strong>DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter and everything related to him does not belong to me...I'm simply borrowing him for my own amusement and pleasure... ;) tehehe ;)<strong>

**~ Chapter 18: New Year, New Path ~**

Two hours later, Hermione was back in her store in Robin Hood's Bay.

After walking from St Mungos with Harry and the Weasleys (Who had also decided to give Ginny and Rob some space for a few hours), she left the boys to their celebratory drinks in The Leaky Cauldron, and apparated back to her place to shower and change, and open up her store for the customary couple of hours.

As predicted, she had very few customers. Only seven came in today, all of whom she knew by name, and who all knew each other – it had become a long standing tradition in the Bay, and Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without this set of ladies spending boxing day at Hermione's café.

As ever, Betsy was the first to arrive, walking in around 12pm.

"Well, my dear," Betsy called as she took a seat in the middle of the room, "How was your Christmas? As magical as one expected?" she asked with a wink, Hermione laughed,

"Let me get the coffee's brewing, then I'll tell you all about it before the others turn up – I assume they won't be far behind?" she added,

"I think we have a good half hour. You opened later than usual." Betsy commented, "I only noticed because I took my walk down to the beach later than I usually do, and I passed your door about half an hour ago – I thought you opened at 11am on Boxing Day?"

"I usually do," Hermione agreed, "but have patience, my dear Betsy, and you will understand all in time," Hermione promised with a smile.

Twenty minutes later, Hermione had sat down with a pot of tea for two, and told Betsy about the past couple days: spending Christmas Eve at Grimmauld Place, and Christmas Day with the Weasleys, and had just finished filling her in with the details of the past twenty-four hours.

"That's wonderful news! And this is Ginny's second I believe?" Betsy asked with excitement,

Hermione nodded, "Yep. All in all, it turned out to be quite a chaotic reunion," she laughed, "Which is why I was a little later than usual with opening up. I didn't return here until about ten this morning. I needed to shower and change, get rid of the hospital smell, and make myself look more presentable. As you can imagine, I didn't have the best nights sleep, last night. Totally worth it though," she added with a smile.

"So, does the new arrival have a name? I must know everything, I'll send and owl to Minerva later on, just might be, I know something before she does for once."

Hermione laughed, then answered the question: "Isabella, Izzy for short. She's such a beautiful baby, she has Ginny's hair."

"And God-Parents? Have Ginny and Rob named them yet?" Betsy asked, to which Hermione smiled even more,

"Yes. They asked Harry and I if we would do it." Hermione answered in excitement, barely containing her giddiness, she rose to clear the used tea things. Betsy gave somewhat of an excited squeal and stood up, likewise, to hug Hermione tightly.

At that moment, the door opened and six more ladies entered the shop; the woman in front – Lisa – was the first to speak,

"Oh my, what's happening here? Good news I hope?" she asked as she began to remove her coat to leave it on the coat stand by the door. The other women followed her lead, as Hermione and Betsy disengaged from one another.

"Very good news," Hermione smiled, "A good friend of mine gave birth to a baby girl this morning. She's asked me to be God-Mother" she explained. As ever, with such news as this, the women 'Awww'-ed and 'oooh'-ed excitedly, as they took their seats, all crowding around the centre table.

"Alright, what's everyone having?" Hermione asked, returning to the counter,

"Another pot of tea for me please, milove" Betsy spoke first, retaking her seat. The other six reeled of their orders,

"caramel latte, thanks"

"Same for me, please"

"I'll have a long black"

"Cappuccino, thanks "

"I'll go for a long black too,"

"Same for me, today I think" Lisa was the last to order. Pulling a bottle out or her bag, she added: "And what do you say to kicking of the afternoon early, and we add a little bit of Christmas spirit?" she grinned,

Hermione laughed, "I suppose I could be celebrating," she said slowly, "After all, it's not every day you get asked to be a God Mother."

"My thoughts, exactly." Lisa grinned, "And coffee at Christmas just wouldn't be right without some Baileys"

"Well, if there's Baileys on go, I think we ought to change our caramel lattes" said Karen, who had ordered first,

"And the cappuccino" added Emily, "Baileys just doesn't sit right with it."

Hermione shook her head, and smiled, "How about I fix up a round of long blacks?" She asked, making a start.

Five minutes later she sat down with a tray of eight long blacks, and eight empty tumblers,

"What are the glasses for?" asked Emily,

"Baileys" Hermione stated, "I figured after we were done with the coffees we may as well cut 0out the middle man and just drink the stuff strait up" she grinned.

Lisa returned the grin, "I thought you'd say that," she started, reaching once again for her bag, "Which is why I brought a couple of extra bottles," She placed them on the table as she spoke.

Within an hour the coffees had been drunk, the first bottle emptied, and the second one coming close to empty also,

"So, Jen," Emily asked, "Where have you been recently? I see Katie all the time, but I've never known you take so much time off? What's the deal?"

Hermione – who had gotten so used to being called by her actual name in the past couple of months, had almost forgotten that people here knew her by a different one – didn't answer right away,

"Jen? Are you with us?" Lisa questioned, shaking a freshly refilled glass in front of Hermione's face.

Hermione's mind finally caught up with the situation, "Oh, yeah, you're talking to me. Erm, yeah, I figured after ten years, it was time to start relaxing a little bit more." She explained lamely,

"That, and a certain male presence has helped distract her away" added Betsy, on whose tongue the ample supply of liquor seemed to be having a loosening effect.

"I knew it!" cried Karen, "Is this the handsome stranger who appeared a few months ago? Black hair, and amazing green eyes?"

"The very one" Betsy informed them all, before Hermione could talk, "His name is Harry, madly in love with her, has been for years-"

"Betsy!" Hermione cut her off, amidst the girlish giggles escaping the slightly tipsy group.

"Come on Jen, tell us the gossip, what's hidden underneath the clothes?" Karen continued, ignoring Hermione's protest,

"Yeah," Lisa seconded the question, "Is his body as good as the close fitting clothes imply?"

Hermione sighed in defeat, then drained the rest of her glass, "It's better," she admitted, looking up from her glass with a grin, "Sooo much better."

The girls laughed, opened the final bottle and topped up their glasses for yet another round.

###

Harry hovered their third round of drinks to their table in The Leaky Cauldron; the place was rather empty – only themselves and another four tables were occupied. George picked up the conversation where it had left off, as Harry re-took his seat.

"So, Hermione is actually working? On Boxing Day? I would have thought she would at least take a couple of days off at Christmas?" He asked incredulously.

Harry shrugged, "It's her pride and joy, she's thrown her heart and soul into it."

"Not answering my question,"

"She's protective, and territorial – surely you remember that? And it's her source of income and she loves it. She always opens a few hours on Boxing Day, she has a group of regulars, women who come in for a few hours, and then they all go join the men in one of the pubs around mid-afternoon."

"Did you ever talk to her about potentially working in the Wizarding World, like you were planning to do? Or did you heed our advice and leave the issue be for a while?" Arthur asked.

Harry nodded, and looked a little sheepish, "Yeah, I asked her about it."

"And?" encouraged Arthur,

"She didn't get as defensive as you anticipated. But she wasn't eager about it either. In fact, she pretty much refused." Harry admitted,

"I told you so, mate" George said, a little smugly, "You should have listened to me, I knew she wouldn't go for it, for all the reasons you yourself have just given me for her working on Boxing Day."

Harry frowned, "You know Hermione that well do you?"

"No," George returned calmly, "If I did, I wouldn't have been surprised at her working today. But I do know what it's like to raise a successful business from the ground: it's your livelihood, but it's also like a child as well. And nothing, nothing will ever induce you to leave it, or let it go." George explained, "When we expanded, when I closed the deal on the property in Hogsmeade, It was really hard to find the staff to manage the store, when we first discussed expanding, Fred was going to run one store and me the other. Obviously that never happened. SO I had to find another solution - so who could I possibly pick to look after my business, my child? Hermione is never going to leave her place unless she really has to."

Harry nodded, "I guess I should have listened to her more on that point, would have saved a lot of arguments. I never thought of it in that way before."

"Why would you?" George tried to make him feel a little better, "You saw it just as a distraction she had built up in the last ten years."

"Okay, you've managed to make me sound like even more of a jerk when you put it like that,"

George laughed, "Sorry, it came out wrong."

Harry looked at his watch, "I should go, I said I would call in on Hermione, it's been a few hours now, I'm thinking she'll be about to clean up and go." He stood as he spoke, "We'll be calling back in on Ginny in little bit."

Arthur nodded, "We'll head back there now, so we'll see you in there later on."

Harry nodded, then disapparated, appearing a moment later at the bottom of the stairs leading up to Hermione's apartment. He heard sounds of laughter coming through the door that lead to the store – clearly Hermione hadn't finished as early as she had hoped. Harry slipped through the door, intending to give her a hand behind the bar, only to stop in his tracks, and raise his eyebrows at the unexpected scene in front of him:

Eight women crowded around a table littered with three open bottles – the contents of which had obviously been enjoyed – all laughing hysterically, and loudly.

One of the women then noticed Harry's arrival, and shouted out: "well, speak of the devil and he shall appear. Hi Harry."

Hermione turned sharply, surprise filtered into her expression, slowly replacing the mirth, "Harry!" she stood, "when did you get here? What are you doing here so soon?"

Harry smiled and moved into the room, "Believe it or not you've been here many hours – decided to start the partying early I see?"

"We were celebrating," Hermione explained lamely, grinning. Harry cocked his head to the side, and with a grin said, "Are you drunk?" to which Hermione giggled, "No, a little bit merry, I'll admit. but not drunk. yet." She grinned, then continued, "Do you want to join us for a drink?"

Karen seconded the invitation immediately, "Yeah, come take of your shirt and join us" she called, to a renewal of giggles - apparently the others were more intoxicated than Hermione.

Harry did a double take, "I'm sorry?" he said toward the table, then turned to Hermione, "Did she just tell me to take of my shirt and join them?"

Hermione, it transpired, was unable to respond, she was covering her mouth with her hand trying to stop herself from laughing out loud, Harry continued,

"Maybe I should call in on Ginny by myself, let you continue with your party," he suggested with a laugh,

"Nah," Hermione protested, turning back to the table, "We should be finishing up here soon, the guys will be waiting for us in the Victoria, I'm assuming?"

Lisa nodded, "Yeah, and the bottles are empty, if we're going to continue to party we're going to need more provisions."

"In that case," Betsy spoke up, "Let's make a move. Girls, we'll go strait up to the Victoria?" she asked, to a general assent, she then spoke to Hermione directly, "Hermione, we'll see you in about an hour? Give you chance to clean up here?" Hermione nodded, as Betsy continued, "Harry, will you be joining us?"

"Erm," Harry looked at Hermione, who jumped in with a smile, "Yes. Yes, he will. We'll see you in an hour."

Once the ladies had departed, Hermione cleared away the cups, glasses and bottle with a wave of her wand, then turned to Harry, "I just need to get changed, then we can go call in at St Mungos. Oh, and you might want to shower and change too, you've been wearing the same outfit for twenty-four hours."

"I can't believe you got drunk while you were working." Was the only response she got.

"I'm not drunk!" she insisted again, "And anyway, it's Christmas, the rules don't apply"

"Mmhmm. Ok, I'll go get changed, you get some coffee and then get changed. I will meet you back here in twenty minutes, tops." Harry kissed her forehead then disapparated back to Grimmauld Place.

Half an hour later the pair were back in Ginny's room at St Mungos, surprised to see Ginny fully dressed, sat in the chair next to her bed.

"You two look nice," Ginny commented, when the pair entered the room, "I take it you haven't got all dressed up just for me, you guys going on a date?" she questioned,

"No, just going for a few drinks up in the Bay, with some of the locals" Hermione clarified, shrugging it off "It's a yearly tradition. How come you're dressed so soon, I half expected to find you asleep, after the long night you've had."

"Nah, the healer's have been around, we're both doing great, we can leave this evening." She explained, "We're just waiting to sign some paperwork, then we'll be on our way."

Harry and Hermione spent the next five minutes helping Ginny gather together the rest of her things, they then said their goodbyes, and once again apparated back to the bay where Hermione reminded Harry that everyone here knew her as Jen, "So whatever you do, do not call me Hermione in front of people here – I really don't want any awkward questions."

Harry smiled, told her not to worry, and allowed himself to be dragged along to meet her friends, excited at finally being allowed properly into her life up here.

_###_

_(Six Months Later)_

Summer was starting to make it's way back up to the bay, and not only was Harry now a well known sight in the village, but so were the rest of the Weasley's who had taken to coming up for a visit nearly every weekend. Molly had recently taken to spending a lot of her time at Hermione's coffee shop: since Ginny had returned to work, Molly was often left to look after Isabella and as Godmother, Hermione had happily agreed to take an equal share of the duty. Betsy and Molly struck up a quick solid friendship – their mutual acquaintances, love of gossip, and interest in Harry and Hermione's relationship immediately endeared each to the other. And every one who ever entered the shop found Isabella to be such an adorable baby that her presence alone doubled Hermione's takings as many were spending twice as long in there as they usually would.

Harry had now been back in Hermione's life for a year; He was with her near enough every day, except when work called him away to various places, sometimes for weeks at a time. Hermione was starting to take more time off – increasing Katie's duties and responsibilities, and even thinking of hiring an extra pair of hands. She would spend her free time often with Harry and the Weasleys, though she now managed to re-touch with others from her school days – Luna and Neville among the most prominent. Hermione had finally got to meet Teddy, who was full of excitement and anticipation about his first term at Hogwarts - he had heard plenty of stories about the various adventures Harry, Ron and Hermione had shared. She was often seen in Hogsmeade, and Diagon Alley, and was a frequent visitor at Grimmauld place, often staying the night - though not as often as Harry stayed over in the Bay.

Hermione had now fully accepted magic back into her life: No longer did it take her up to an hour to finish cleaning down the store when it came to closing – a few waves of her wand and everything was sparkling. She had taken out another subscription to the daily prophet so she was once again fully up to date with the major goings-on in the magical world, and her cupboards were once again stocked with a multitude of treats courtesy of Honeydukes, along with a few favourite brews from The Three Broomsticks. She had also taken to switching out her regular supply of hot chocolate in the store to a Honeydukes blend – Every customer that sampled it were in agreement that it was the best chocolate they had ever had tasted.

One night, toward the end of June, Harry had returned from a month long assignment in Norway. After finishing up some paperwork, and returning home for half an hour to check in with Kreacher, shower and change, he called in on Hermione at 9pm. After spending so long in the coldest parts of the Breheiman Mountains, he persuaded Hermione to walk with him along the beach, to enjoy the clear warm night.

After generally discussing the past four weeks, and walking up and down the shoreline, hand-in-hand, five times, they sat themselves on a large rock, looking out to the dark ocean; Harry moved onto what he really wanted to talk about:

"So, I've been thinking," Harry began, a little nervously, "We're pretty much living in each other's pockets. We rarely spend a night apart, except when I'm away with work."

Hermione nodded, "Is that a bad thing?" she asked, leaning into him,

"No, not at all," he assured her quickly, "I was just thinking, we should make it a permanent thing."

Hermione turned to look at him, her expression calm and masked, "Are you asking me to move in with you?"

"Yes,"

"To Grimmauld Place?" Hermione wanted to clarify,

"Yes." Harry said again, more slowly this time. "You don't want to" He stated, rather than asked, looking back to the sea, trying to hide his disappointment, "That's ok, it doesn't matter"

Hermione smiled, took his face in her hands and turned him to look at her, "I do want to live with you, believe me I do. But I would like you to consider living here" she asked,

"Here? You don't think it will be a little small for us?" He asked, thinking of his plans for the future, Hermione laughed,

"We're only two people. And I'm not talking about forever – a few years down the line, maybe less, I agree, this place will be too small." She sighed, "Ok here's the deal. I'm really happy here right now – I don't want to leave. Not yet, anyway. And I'm still working a lot, it's nice to be here at close and open to take care of the money -"

"You're a witch, you can apparate from London to here in less than a second."

"Right back at you – you can apparate from here to work in less than a second – that's not the point. When I'm ready to move away from here, I will be ready to take a less active role in the business, but right now I need to be here. And it's not just about an emotional attachment; I'm talking financially as well. Do you know why I've worked so hard since starting up? Why I never employed anyone to work along side me until just over a year ago? Why I did everything myself?"

"I assumed it was to distract you from remembering us?"

Hermione shrugged, "Okay, partly that" she admitted, "But mainly, it was money. Every penny this place made went straight back into it. I didn't have rent to pay, but I still had a mortgage. Luckily it wasn't too big, my inheritance fund meant I could put a lot down towards it, so the mortgage was pretty small, but it was there. I also had a couple of loans to repay for starting up a business. I got a couple of credit cards that covered the furnishings of the place. The credit cards I paid off within the year: that was the easy part. The loan repayments took five years to pay off, and I took them out about three years apart, so a majority of my income went toward those. I managed to pay the second one of about a year and a half ago. I had a ten-year mortgage repayment plan, I wanted those payments as small as possible so I could pay the loans of quicker – less interest payments that way. I didn't actually need the mortgage, if I'm honest," She admitted then, "My inheritance covered the full asking price of the place. But keeping some of it back meant I could take out a smaller loan."

Hermione went quiet for a moment, re-collecting her train of thought, "Next month I will make the final payment on my mortgage, and this place, my little empire, will be all mine, I will owe nothing on it, and I want to live here and enjoy it. I still have a few bank accounts, all with hefty overdrafts, which are all dipped into. The main business account isn't overdrawn anymore, but only just. I only hired Katie fifteen months ago, because it was only then that I really believed it to be financially viable. And once I pay off the mortgage I can think about employing another pair of hands to give me more time off, and give Katie the hefty raise she deserves. Until I am fully debt free, and have a clear income coming in, only then can I consider moving from this place. I've poured more than my heart and soul into this place, there have been plenty of blood, sweat, and tears poured into it as well, believe me. For the first few years I was basically living off the tips – it wasn't a lot. I couldn't afford any luxuries, it was incredibly hard, but it meant I could start paying back what I owed a lot quicker."

Harry listened in silence, feeling a mixture of shame that he had never really considered just how much hardship Hermione would have had to go through to build up from nothing, and admiration at her perseverance.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I never thought about the financial side of this for you, I just took it for granted you had no money worries, you never said."

Hermione laughed good-naturedly, "They're not 'money worries' per-say, they were never really 'worries' if I'm honest, more of a necessity to my long-term goal." she explained, "I had panned ahead; I knew what I would be paying, and when I would be paying it. I knew how I would be paying it: which accounts would be paying for what, I knew how much of the takings I would be putting into each account, each week – I had on overflow account, so when takings covered the weekly deposits, any left over cash would be in that account, and should there be any weeks that takings didn't cover the deposit amounts, I could top up from the spare money – It happened a lot, especially in the beginning. The overflow account is now for wages. Back then I used to live off the tips only, it wasn't a lot, but it was enough."

Harry laughed, "Either I forgot, or I never realised just how anal you are with your organisation."

"Laugh all you want, at least I will be completely debt free in less than fifteen years. I'll admit, it's pretty lucky, and having a hefty inheritance really helped a lot. But that's not what we were discussing. One day I would love to live with you in Grimmauld place, but right now my place is here. But I do want to live with you. I just hope you understand why me leaving here now isn't what I want, or need."

Hermione began chewing her lip nervously, hoping she hadn't offended, or upset Harry too much. Harry looked at her, and smiled,

"Looks like I'm moving to Robin Hood's Bay then. When Shall I bring my things?"

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: okay, so this chapter was a bit of a filler chapter to get the story moving along the timeline a little bit quicker. We're getting very close to the end now, I can't tell you how many chapters are left - possibly two, but if writing goes well and ideas flow, I might be able to stretch it out. - I made a brief mention to Teddy in this chapter, we will be seeing more of him in the next chapter, but I thought here would be a good place to bring him in briefly.**_

_**...but when one thing ends, another one begins...another reason that this update was a little later than planned, I've been working on my next fic, and I now have the first chapter ready to go :)**_

_**I hope you enjoyed the update, I'll get to work on the next chapter and will hopefully have it up pretty soon.**_

_**Until next time, let me know what you think, I hope your wait hasn't been disappointed**_

_**xBx**_


	20. Chapter 19 Something Magically Ordinary

**_A/N: Finally got the next chapter finished, I know I've taken my time and I'm very sorry for the delay. This was originally going to be the last chapter (before an epilogue), but as I was writing the chapter, I kept adding little extra bits in, so I ended up with a full chapter before I got through half of what I wanted to include - the good news in this is that the story has an extra chapter before the end._  
><strong>

**_Thank you for all my reviews, your support is fantastic, and thank you all for coming back to read the next chapter._**

**_Hope you enjoy the next instalment, so while you guys read, I'll get cracking on the final part._**

**_xBx_**

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><p><strong>~ Chapter 19: Something Magically Ordinary ~<strong>

Half an hour after coming to their decision, Harry and Hermione were back in Hermione's kitchen – or rather _their_ kitchen, as it would now be called – opening a bottle of champagne,

"I was saving this for when I became fully and officially out of debt," Hermione said as she poured the champagne into two flutes, "but I think this celebration is better suited for it."

Hermione handed a glass to Harry, and then held up her own glass in a toast: "To us." She smiled, "Finally getting our lives back on track, and going the way we were meant to be going."

Harry grinned, and raised his glass to hers, "Cheers to that." They each sipped their drink then Harry leaned forward to kiss Hermione lightly, and quickly, on the lips.

"So, when do you want to start spreading the good news?" Harry asked, sipping his champagne and taking a seat at the kitchen table.

Hermione took a seat next to him and shrugged, "I don't know, the next time we see them?"

"I was thinking we should tell them before I start to move my stuff in here – we don't want them thinking we're keeping secrets, after all."

Hermione laughed, "Alright then, when will you want to start moving your things in?"

"As soon as possible. Now, even."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "You want to send an owl out to everyone don't you?" She accused.

"No," Harry answered slowly, Hermione arched her eyebrows disbelievingly, "Owls take too long: It would be quicker to just apparate around." Harry finished quietly.

Hermione laughed, and shook her head, "There's no need to be in such a rush. Besides, it going to take a few days to get this place ready for you to move in: I've got to clear some space for your things."

"But this weekend, I'm here." Harry stated.

Hermione smiled, "I can't wait." She said simply, leaning over the table to kiss Harry deeply on the lips.

Over the next few nights, Hermione managed to clear out some closet and wardrobe space in her room – now that she had fully opened up the hidden closet, and it was in daily use, she found it very easy to locate plenty of spare room in her bedroom. The rest of the place, however, proved a little more difficult. She managed to clear some spaces downstairs for anything Harry might bring that he wished to keep there. She had also decided to turn the spare room into an office: Hermione had always done her admin work for her business at the kitchen table, keeping everything organised and filed on one shelves of her bookcase in the living room. But since Harry would also be having ample amounts of paperwork also, and undoubtedly would be bringing a lot of it home, she figured it might be useful to have a proper office space.

Harry had not wasted time spreading their good news, and the next time Molly called in to see her (which happened to be the next afternoon after Harry and Hermione had come to their agreement), she came with everyone's congratulations, and the promise of a celebratory family dinner.

"Really, Molly," Hermione tried to calm the unnecessary excitement of her adoptive mother, "It's not too big of a deal, we're only moving in together, it's not like we're getting married."

"On the contrary, this is the first real step on the road of commitment. It's a very big deal. A hint of something more to come, may haps?" Molly inquired slyly.

Hermione laughed, "Honestly, Molly. Harry hasn't even moved his things up here yet, and you already have us picking out china patterns?" She asked, in semi-rhetoric, as she cleared a nearby table.

"So, you'll be living here?" Molly asked, slightly surprised, taking a seat at her favourite table near enough to the counter to maintain a conversation with Hermione whilst she was making coffee for a steady stream of customers.

Hermione nodded, making her way back behind the counter, "Yes. Didn't Harry tell you that part?"

"No, we assumed you would move down into Grimmauld Place." Molly told her truthfully, Hermione sighed,

"I know, Harry had the same idea. And one day we will live there together. But right now, I need to be here. For a good few months at least."

"This place won't be too small for you?" Molly suggested, trying to feign innocence, but Hermione knew Molly was thinking about – and sincerely hoping for – the 'patter of tiny feet' to soon be gracing Harry and Hermione's home.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "For now, it's a perfect size," she assured Molly, "One day, I will move down to London, I told Harry I would. The reason Harry is moving in here is because we want to be together, and he didn't want to wait months until I was free to leave this place." She explained, without going into too much detail.

A flurry of custom, at that moment, prevented Hermione from continuing the conversation, and by the time Hermione had served, cleared the empty tables, and pushed a load of pots through the dishwasher, Molly was too invested in conversation with Betsy, to return to questioning Hermione about her and Harry's future plans.

By the end of the weekend, Harry and his most prised possessions were now permanent residents in the apartment above Hermione's store. Within the next week, Hermione was exceptionally glad she had decided to spontaneously turn the spare room into a study: the desk was littered with a mountain of official looking documents from the Auror office, and the new bookcase crammed with an assortment of books on various dark-artefacts, histories of dark wizards, and official documentations on Auror legislations, and the relevant wizarding laws.

About a month after Harry had moved in, Hermione entered the office, carrying two cups of coffee, Harry had come back from the ministry at 6pm, quickly grabbed a bite to eat, and had spent the next three hours at the desk.

"I can't believe how much paper work you have" Hermione said, placing down a mug, and running a hand through Harry's hair.

"Thanks," Harry said, picking up the mug and taking a sip. "After every case I get a mountain load. This one in particular, as it's been long on going. As head Auror, I have to compile my own report, as well as a compile a brief outline of all the other reports from other field agents involved, to hand in to the ministers office. As well as reading and compiling briefs on all the other cases the Aurors have going on."

"The joys of being high up in the system," Hermione said sympathetically. Harry grinned and pulled Hermione onto his lap.

"How was your day? I'm sorry, I've hardly seen you since I came home," Harry said.

Hermione shrugged, "Same-old, same-old. I'm thinking I might take on another member of staff, now that we're in the middle of summer, it would be nice to have an extra pair of hands. And the trade will be at it's highest mid- to end of August, so now would be a good time to train someone up. It also means I will be able to take more time off throughout the week, maybe even have most of my weekends to myself."

"Seriously?" Harry asked with a smile, Hermione nodded.

"Yep, Katie is fully proficient, I have no qualms about leaving her in charge, and promoting her to management status. And by the end of September I should have trained the next employee up well enough to handle the odd mid-day shift on his own, I could open, they could come in about 10am, take over me, and Katie could come in a close down in the evening. It will give me so much more time to take care of the admin side of things during the daytime, and more regularly, instead of having to stay up until 1am at least once a month."

Harry laughed, "What about the cost? I thought all this wouldn't be financially acceptable until the New Year?" He asked.

Hermione shrugged again, "It may push a couple of things back a month or too, but nothing more than that. My original forecast was based on worse case scenario sales. But this summer has been my best one for takings, since I opened. The presence of little Izzy alone has almost tripled my daily takings." Hermione explained with a laugh,

"What do you mean?"

"Well, everyone who comes in falls instantly in love with her and can't get enough of her, and Molly is more than willing to keep people talking about her, and lets people hold her and play with her: people are staying twice as long as the usually would, and buying more than one round of drinks in the process." Hermione grinned, "You've actually been a great help as well" she said, Harry looked at her cautiously,

"Meaning?" He asked, slowly,

"Every woman spends so much more time in there when you're helping out; especially when your t-shirts are rather close fitting, and it doesn't take a lot of imagination to see you muscles" she said, grinning. "And you appeal to women of all ages as well, you've really improved our demographic since you came around"

Harry chuckled, "Well, I can't help it if I have something all these Northern women want,"

"Not just the women," Hermione continued, "I've had a few men inquire about you. Apparently you have a quality"

"What kind of quality?" he asked, and Hermione laughed.

"I don't know. They just said there was something about you that was worth trying to turn you." She said, Harry shrugged then said with a grin:

"Well, I can't help it if I'm universally adored."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "can your ego get any bigger?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe if you tell me how amazing I am, how attractive you find me, how much you love me and want me, maybe it might grow some more" Harry said with a cheeky grin.

Hermione arched an eyebrow "Are we still talking about your ego?" she asked slyly, and before Harry could answer she kissed him deeply on the lips.

Harry threw down his quill and wrapped his arms tightly around Hermione, "I think I can finish these papers off tomorrow" he murmured into Hermione's lips, he felt her smile against him.

"Time for bed, maybe?" she suggested. Harry stood up, with Hermione still in his arms; Hermione wrapped her legs around his waist as he said: "Now that sounds like the best idea I've heard all day." Hermione crushed her lips back onto his, and allowed Harry to carry her upstairs to their room.

###

A couple of months later, into the middle of October, the weather had cooled, the last of the summer regulars had returned to their homes, and their was a taste of winter in the air.

Hermione had successfully recruited and trained a new member of staff: Jake was in his early twenties, studying part time at the University only thirty minutes away, living with his grandmother while she got herself back on her feet (she had recently taken a fall and broken her wrist; Jake had moved in with her in the middle of summer, just a few days before Hermione had advertised for staff – fate is the only way to describe it).

Jake turned out to be better than Hermione could ever have expected, or hoped for. He took to the job like a duck to water, Hermione had even been considering training him up to handle running the place single handed – at this rate she would be able to extricate herself from daily work a lot quicker than she had ever anticipated.

Hermione placed dinner on the table as Harry poured out a couple of glasses of wine.

"He's such a lovely guy as well" Hermione continued, after filling Harry in on Jake's progress. "I mean, everyone loves him, he's great at his job, so diplomatic, never pisses anyone off, no one has a bad word to say against him. It's a shame he only has two more years left at university, I don't know how we'll replace him," she said, sitting down across from Harry.

"Should I be jealous?" Harry asked, jokingly. Hermione grinned wickedly,

"I don't know. I never really fancied myself as a potential cougar, but for the right guy, it could be fun to test drive a younger model."

Harry's smile faltered a little, "Ok, now I actually am a little bit jealous."

Hermione laughed, "I'm kidding. Don't worry, you're the only man for me." She placated him with a laugh, and then turned the conversation. "I was thinking of taking the whole weekend off, this week, you're not working are you?" she asked.

"Not unless something drastic happens." Harry shrugged, "It's been pretty quiet recently, I've been able to catch up on a lot of paperwork. And when you say 'take the whole weekend off', is that a normal person's full weekend where you clock off Friday night, and don't return until Monday morning? Or is it an Hermione weekend off, where you're in Saturday morning, you pop in during the evening, back again Sunday morning and look in again Sunday night?" Harry asked with a grin, and was rewarded with one of Hermione's infamous glares.

"I'll admit that I was going to open up on Saturday, but that was it. I'm going to let Jake do the close down Saturday night, and have Katie run things on Sunday." Hermione said "Jake is coming in a couple of evenings this week to run through to cashing up and close down procedure."

"You really are seriously taking more of a back seat aren't you?" Harry said, slightly impressed, "I have to say, I didn't thing you'd do it so quickly, I'm impressed at how easily you seem to be delegating. Anyway, what were you wanting to do this weekend?" He asked.

"Hogsmeade," Hermione stated immediately, "I didn't get a chance to drop in there the other day when I was out with Ginny, we got too caught up in London, all those clothes and shoes." She explained, "I want to go into Honeydukes, I'm running low on a few things, and I need to renew my contract with them, about buying up their hot chocolate in bulk. I also want to get some cool stuff for Hallowe'en, I really want to go all out on this place this year."

"You can't go seriously all-out though, this place is full of muggles." Harry countered,

"I know, I'm not talking about singing pumpkins, and skeletons that come to life. It's just that I can get things in Hogsmeade that will be so much better than, and different from, the usual muggle clichés." She explained, "Giant pumpkins that last longer than the muggle ones, and a lot of more traditional decorations that the muggles probably haven't seen since the 17th Century, but that Hogwarts used to have every year." She said.

"Actually, I'm glad you said Hogsmeade, Neville wrote to me a couple of days ago, asked if we were planning on going up there anytime soon. He wants to do lunch, have a bit of a catch up, what do you think?"

"Absolutely, it's been a while, I don't think we've seen him since the school year started again have we?" She asked; Harry nodded.

"Yeah, you're right. Last time we saw him was August 31st, the dinner we had at Grimmauld Place."

"Of course," Hermione remembered fondly, "We had Teddy there as well, with Adromeda and Ted. He was so excited to be starting Hogwarts, though a little intimidated by Neville."

Harry laughed, "Yeah, he wasn't expecting to meet a professor before he got there, poor thing."

"Have you heard from him since he got there? How's he getting on?"

Harry grinned, "Yeah, I've had a couple of letters. He's loving it: He's befriended Hagrid, and spends nearly every weekend down at Hagrid's hut, hearing a multitude of stories about us in our early years."

Hermione laughed, and Harry continued, "Apparently our escapades are the stuff of Hogwarts legends, Teddy is a bit of a celebrity; Everyone knows his parents are famous heroes, part of the Order, and now that he's told people I'm his Godfather, everyone wants to know if all the stories are true."

"What stories?" Hermione asked,

"The chamber of Secrets is a pretty big one, and feeding a Professor to the centaurs"

Hermione laughed, "That makes it sound like we murdered her! Umbridge followed us willingly,"

"I know, I corrected him on that one; he's heard all about Dumbledore's Army. And you're a pretty big legend as well." Harry finished, Hermione looked up surprised,

"Really? What have I done that's legendry?"

"Don't be modest. You're known as the brightest witch Hogwarts has ever seen: everyone tells about you brewing polyjuice potion in your second year; taking every class available in your third year; you're known as the brains of the trio. And apparently you punching Draco Malfoy is also fondly remembered." Harry took a drink, "You know, getting those letters from Teddy, it's made me think about our time at Hogwarts properly, for the first time in a long time. And I actually miss the place."

Hermione smiled, "Me too," she admitted, "It would be nice to see the place again, I think."

###

At 11am the following Saturday, Hermione and Harry were walking hand in hand down the Hogsmeade main street. Their first port of call was Honeydukes, in which Hermione spent nearly a full hour picking out a selection of treats to re-sell in the coffee shop over Hallowe'en, and re-adjusting her current wholesale agreement with the Honeydukes owner, to expand the hot chocolate range she was selling to the muggles. When business had been taken care of they headed to the Three Broomsticks, calling into Scrivenshafts along the way for Harry to stock up on supplies he was lacking in the office. By the time they made it into The Three Broomsticks at 12:30pm, Neville was already sat at the bar, facing the doorway, halfway through a bottle of butterbeer. Upon Harry and Hermione's arrival, Neville waved them over, at the same time asking the bartender for two more butterbeers.

When the pair made their way around to Neville's side of the bar he stood up to greet them, shaking Harry's hand, and pulling Hermione into a hug.

"Hope you weren't waiting too long, Hermione took forever in Honeydukes," Harry explained. Neville took in their lack of shopping bags, and frowned.

"Did you forget your purchases, Hermione? Or did you eat them all on the way here?"

Hermione laughed, "No, it was more business purchases, rather than for personal consumption. I was re-negotiating the stock I'm, buying from them to sell in my coffee shop." Hermione explained, as Neville handed the pair their butterbeers,

"Ah," Neville nodded his understanding, than gestured behind him "Shall we get a table?" He asked.

The others nodded, Hermione quickly grabbed a couple of menus from the bar, and followed Harry and Neville to small, round table near a window.

As they sat down, Harry asked Neville, "How's Teddy doing? I've heard from him a couple of times, and he sounds like he's enjoying himself. He's not getting into any trouble I hope?"

Neville chuckled, "Hmmm, how to put this. He certainly seems to be following in his Godfather's footsteps."

Hermione sniggered, and Harry looked wary, "Why does that not sound like a compliment?" he asked,

"How many midnight wanderings has he taken?" Hermione asked with a grin, before Neville could respond to Harry.

"That we know about?" Neville asked, "Or that we suspect?"

Hermione laughed, while Harry frowned, "He's not getting into serious trouble though?" He tried to clarify, "I mean, he's got good friends right? And he's doing well in his classes?"

Neville smiled, "Harry, relax. Teddy is doing great. He has his Mother and Father's talents, he's very bright, he gets along with everyone. And he's very much like you as well. He's doing fine. And he hasn't yet got into the kind of trouble you used to get yourself into. For instance, he hasn't befriended a giant three-headed dog yet." Harry laughed,

"How about a dragon?" Hermione asked with a fond, reminiscent smile. Neville frowned.

"A dragon? When did you guys befriend a dragon?" He asked, then his memory caught up with him, as he recalled the first detention he was ever given: "Hang on. When Malfoy was raving about you two with a dragon, back in first year, was he telling the truth?"

Harry and Hermione looked sheepishly at one another, then looked guiltily back to Neville. Hermione explained.

"He was called Norbert. Hagrid hatched him in his hut, he was a Norwegian Ridgeback, but he was getting too big, so we wrote to Ron's brother, Charlie, in Romania. The night the four of us got caught wandering the halls, that was the night that Harry and I carried Norbert up to the Astronomy Tower so he could be picked up by a few of Charlie's friends, to be taken to Romania."

Neville shook his head in disbelief, "How is it, after all these years, I still don't know the half of what you guys got up to at school! Do you know, it was only the other week I found out about you brewing Polyjuice Potion in our second year-"

"Yeah, you didn't have to tell Teddy that one, mate." Harry interrupted,

"I didn't!" Neville defended himself. "He told me! He heard it from Moaning Myrtle. And When I asked him how he'd met her, he told me he went to visit her bathroom. I asked him why, and he said, he wanted to see the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets himself. I swear to the Gods, Harry, he is getting more like you every day."

Harry didn't know whether to look proud, impressed, or sheepish, that his bad habits had rubbed off so early on his little protégé, so he contented himself with staring intently at his menu, while Hermione tried to control her laughter. Luckily, the waiter chose that particular moment to come over and take their orders.

Thirty minutes later, the trio had gotten through a majority of their meal and a bottle of wine. Harry and Hermione had filled Neville in on some of their still unknown antics that he hadn't been part of, and Hermione finally told him the truth of how she had been attending three classes at once during their third year – this also helped to fill in the gaping holes of the Sirius Black mystery that still lingered the halls of Hogwarts.

As their plates were cleared away, Neville leaned back and picked up his glass,

"So," he said. "How's living together going? Infuriating each other to no end yet?" He asked with a grin.

"Not at all," Hermione smiled, "though I did completely underestimate how much work he actually brings home from the ministry. My tiny office is slowly drowning in papers." Hermione joked.

"It's not that bad" Harry countered, Hermione gave his leg a loving squeeze.

"No, it's manageable. I've just been so used to having that place to myself for so long. I don't know, maybe Molly was right, maybe my place is too small."

"Wait," Neville asked, "You're not living down in London?"

The pair shook their heads at Neville, who laughed, and looked directly at Harry, "She got you to move in with her, to her tiny apartment, leaving your four-story house, complete with every magical luxury, including a house-elf?" Neville clarified.

"Yes," Harry answered, slowly. Neville laughed again, and shook his head,

"Dude, after all these years, she still has you whipped. This is fantastic."

"Hey," Harry protested, meekly, but was over-shadowed by Hermione's splutter of indignation.

"I do not have him whipped. And what do you mean by 'still'? I never had him whipped." Hermione protested.

"You did a little bit Hermione," Neville countered, "Honestly, Harry and Ron would never do anything unless they had your permission."

"That's not true." She turned to Harry, "Harry, tell him it's not true,"

"Yes dear," Harry said with a grin, while Neville laughed.

Hermione rolled her eyes, and changed the conversation. "So tell me more about Hogwarts, Nev. Has it changed at all, since we were there?"

Neville shrugged, "Not much – you can't get away with as much nowadays, not with Minerva as Headmistress, she still instils that fear in all the students that she did with us. And there's a lot more inter-house unity now as well. Though there is still a lot of healthy competition when it comes to Quidditch. The castle itself, though, is still pretty much the same."

Hermione sighed in a wistful sort of way, something that Neville picked up on:

"You miss it, don't you?" Neville asked, Hermione smiled sadly, and nodded.

"Of course I do, who wouldn't? And I really miss Hagrid, I miss our tea-visits we used to pay him." She reminisced fondly.

"Why don't you come back with me? Call in on him" Neville asked suddenly,

"Is that allowed?" Harry asked slowly, Neville shrugged.

"I don't see why not, it's you two after all. And we'd only be going to Hagrid's mind you. I don't reckon I could get you into the castle without McGonagall's permission. But then again, it is you two, you can get away with anything."

Hermione and Harry looked at each other, Harry shrugged, "If you wanted to, we could I guess."

Hermione grinned, "Alright, lets do it."

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: Ok, so I know not a lot happens in this one, it was more to move the months along. But still, let me know what you think :)**_

_**Next chapter has more things happening, and will start bringing the story to a close. **_

_**Thank you to everyone who has stuck with this story, thank you to all my readers and all my reviewers, it's made this process so much fun, and so rewarding.**_

_**I will try and update soon. However, we're currently on school holidays, so I won't have much time to make a good start on the next chapter this week - once the kids are back in school I'll get back to writing properly.**_

_**xBx**_


	21. Chapter 20 - Back on Track

**_A/N: Finally, it is here, the final chapter! It has taken a while to find the right words, to find the right scenarios, I've been back and forth and back again, but I got there. Not much has changed from my original ideas for this chapter, I think my biggest issue was bringing it to an end. It has been a wonderful journey, writing this piece, and that is thanks to you guys. I can not thank you enough for reading my fic, for reviewing, for enjoying, for marking as your favourite and sharing it with communities._**

**_But before I get all emotional with a teary goodbye (I'll save it for the epilogue), I'll let you read what you've all waited patiently to read..._**

**_xBx_**

* * *

><p><strong>~ Chapter 20: Back on Track ~<strong>

Before she knew it, Hermione found herself on the road from Hogsmeade back to Hogwarts, hand-in-hand with Harry, with Neville walking along beside them. For a second it was as if she was back in school – but then she remembered the obvious missing piece: Ron.

She sighed; maybe returning to Hogwarts wasn't going to be as easy, or as fun, as she had thought it would be, mere moments ago. Harry, seeming to sense the apprehension she felt, gave her hand a gentle, reassuring squeeze. Hermione looked up at Harry and smiled,

"You ok?" Harry mouthed, Hermione smiled wider and nodded, returning Harry's gentle hand-squeeze.

Within fifteen minutes, Hermione, Harry and Neville came to a halt outside Hagrid's wooden hut, Hermione smiled despite her nerves: the place hadn't changed, it was exactly how she remembered it. Neville raised his hand and knocked on the door, which was answered by a resounding bark that could only have come from Fang, followed by Hagrid's heavy footsteps.

He swung the door inwards, and his eyes fell first on Neville, "Hello Neville, an' Harry!" he said noticing Harry, "What're you doin'..." He froze as his eyes settled on Hermione: he stood in shock for a few seconds, which felt to Hermione like they lasted a lifetime, "Galloping gargoyles!" He exclaimed at last, "'Ermione, is that really you?!"

Hermione smiled nervously, "Hi Hagrid. How are you?"

Hagrid leaned past Neville, and pulled Hermione into a tight one-armed hug, "It's good ter see yeh 'mione, really is. Well, come on in then" he said when he finally put her down, "Kettle's jut boiled, hows about I make us all a nice cup o' tea."

Within no time at all, Hermione was as comfortable in Hagrid's cabin as she had always been, and after reminiscing about her early years at Hogwarts – "aye, yeh were so little back then 'mione, all o' yeh were. But then again, I 'sepct ev'ryone seems little teh me, don' they?" Hagrid had chuckled - and touching upon the final years spent there, Hagrid finally asked, "So tell me, Hermione, what have yeh bin doin' with yerself all these years?"

Before Hermione could answer, Neville raised himself from his seat, "I'm sorry, but I have to go. I have a meeting with a student who needs a little help with their Herbology homework. Harry, Hermione, it was great to catch up, we'll have to do it again soon. Hagrid, see you at dinner."

Neville departed, and Hermione regaled her tale of the past ten years for what felt like the one-hundredth time, while Harry gave almost all his attention to Fang who had laid his head in Harry's lap, just like Hermione remembered he had often done in their school days.

When Hermione was nearing the end of her narrative, they were interrupted by a knock at the door.

Hagrid huffed himself out his seat to open the door, revealing Minerva McGonagall framed in the doorway, in all her stern glory.

"Good afternoon, Hagrid. I met Neville in the hallway and I heard a rumour that you are entertaining a couple of unauthorised visitors?" she challenged.

Hermione glanced at Harry in alarm, who shifted uncomfortably in his seat – even after all these years, McGonagall had the ability to make them quake. Hagrid shifted uncomfortably: "Well….er…I…." he mumbled.

Minerva leaned around him and spotted Hermione, a smile graced her lips, "So it's true, you're really are here." Stepping across the threshold and seating herself at the large table, Hagrid took a moment to recover from the sudden change of moods, but recovered swiftly and after shutting the door he set about getting another mug for tea.

Hermione smiled shyly, "Yes, Professor."

Minerva laughed, "My dear, you haven't been a student here for some time, you may call me Minerva. Harry has finally gotten used to doing so."

Hermione grinned shyly and looked over at Harry, who nodded in confirmation.

"How have you been?" Minerva asked, "I won't ask what you've been doing, I've been brought up to date by Betsy, as I'm sure you already know."

Hermione laughed, "Yes, she mentioned she had wrote to you. I assume she's wrote you often, keeping you updated?"

"Naturally. It was wonderful to hear you two are living together now, how is that going?"

Harry grinned, "Very well, Minerva, very well."

"Of course I was surprised to hear that you had left London, Harry, to settle in Yorkshire. I would have thought Grimmauld Place would suit you both much better?" Minerva queried.

"It will do, eventually," Hermione agreed, "but for know, I need to be in the Bay."

Minerva stayed with them another half an hour, and the four indulged in idle chit-chat.

Upon rising, she spoke to Hermione, "I'm sorry to have to rush off, but I will be expected to be present in the Dining Hall over dinner. It was lovely to see you again my dear, I wish we could have talked for longer. I hope you will stay in touch, now that you're back on our radars." Minerva told her, "In fact, drop by my office one day and we'll have tea. Drop me an owl to let me know when you're available. But don't leave it too long, sometime in the next couple of weeks will be welcome." Minerva delivered this in such a way as to make it an order rather than an invitation, and Hermione was left powerless to refuse, not that she really wanted to mind you, but the option would have been nice.

Hermione smiled, "I will." She promised as Minerva left. Harry and Hermione remained long enough to finish their own mugs of tea, before leaving Hagrid to go to the feast likewise, and retreating home themselves.

As promised, Hermione returned to Hogwarts a few days into November, less than two weeks after her return there, to join Minerva for tea in her office. As Minerva's owl had informed her, Hermione was greeted at the school by a Ravenclaw prefect who had a free period at the time Hermione had arranged to drop by.

"You're Hermione Granger." The Ravenclaw sixth year stated, trying to hide the excitement in her eyes, as Hermione walked up the stone steps leading up to the castle.

She smiled and nodded hesitatingly, "Yeah, that's me."

The Ravenclaw held out her hand, "I'm Rachel Rivers." She introduced herself.

Hermione shook the offered hand with a smile. "A pleasure to meet you Rachel."

Rachel turned, beaming, and led Hermione through the entrance hall toward the marble staircase. "I'll take you to the Headmistress' office, though you can probably still remember your way. It seems a bit silly really, you needing a guide. But I couldn't pass up this opportunity to meet you, I've read all about you of course, and heard all the stories about your time at Hogwarts, and how much you achieved," Rachel faltered in her admiration, halfway up the marble staircase, when he noticed Hermione was no longer with her. She turned and saw Hermione standing at the foot of the stairs looking around her, a look of sadness mingled with a look of apprehension.

"Are you alright, Miss Granger?" Rachel asked, bringing Hermione out of her reverie.

Hermione looked up and smiled at the concern etched on the teenager's face. Hermione squared her shoulders and began to climb the staircase, "Yes, thank you. I'm sorry, it's just been so long since I was here, remembering the last time-" she trailed off sadly then smiled again, "We made a real mess of the castle during that famous battle, the place has been restored extremely well. I saw the beginning of the restorations, but I left before they were completed. It's strange to see the place again."

Hermione walked side by side with the Ravenclaw who chatted happily about the stories she had heard, seeking the truths behind the legends. Hermione smiled and laughed at how some of the stories had become rather far-fetched – particularly the incidents surrounding the rescue of the philosopher's stone:

"I hate to burst the dream, Rachel, but it wasn't quite that exciting, the three of us never duelled Voldemort then – I couldn't pass through the final chamber, Harry went trough alone, and I went back to Ron who had been knocked out during a game of chess," she explained, halting at that part of her re-tell, she still found it difficult to talk about Ron. Silently, she automatically took a turn that would take her to the transfiguration corridor, where Professor McGonagall's office had been when Hermione had attended the school.

Rachel remained at the end of the corridor, "Where are you going? That's goes down to Transfiguration, the Headmistresses' office is this way," she signalled ahead of her, with a frown.

Hermione laughed at her mistake."Of course, McGonagall is headmistress now, I forget she will be in Dumbledore's study now." She said returning to the Ravenclaw's side, and proceeding up the corridor, "Though it's not Dumbledore's study any more, is it?" she corrected herself sadly, " it belongs to the current headmaster, or mistress, so it's her study now."

"What was Albus Dumbledore like?" The Ravenclaw asked interestedly, "I've read lots about him of course, and I've spoken to his portrait in the Headmistress' study a couple of times. He seems rather enigmatic. You're so lucky to have known him, when he was alive" she sighed wistfully, "especially the way you knew him, as part of the Golden trio, who knew him better than any other students had. But that biography that Rita Skeeter wrote, the year after his death, doesn't quite seem to fit with how he is remembered here."

Hermione frowned, "Let me give you some advice. When it comes to the writings of that Skeeter woman, take what she says with a pinch of salt. She likes to exaggerate. A lot. The interviews that she takes down, well, they're ten percent what is actually spoken and ninety percent fabricated by her quick-quotes quill. The only exception is an interview she wrote for the Quibbler about thirteen years ago."

The Ravenclaw became thoughtful as they approached the Gargoyles that still stood guard at the entrance to the Headmistress' Tower.

"Ginger Newts" Rachel gave the password, and Hermione followed her through to the moving spiral staircase. At the door, the Ravenclaw knocked and entered, "Miss Hermione Granger is here professor." She announced as Hermione entered the circular study.

"Thank you Rachel. You may return to your common room, your next class will be starting soon." Minerva said, rising from behind the large desk, and coming around to greet Hermione.

Hermione turned to the departing student, "Thank you Rachel, it was lovely to meet you."

The Ravenclaw smiled finally letting her excitement show, "It was a honour to meet you Miss Granger." She said before leaving and closing the door behind her.

Hermione chuckled and turned back to Minerva, "Hello Minerva," she started awkwardly, causing Minerva to laugh.

"Come in Hermione, have a seat, we'll sit up there" she indicated behind her desk, to a raised sitting area, "It's far more comfortable. And I appreciate you using my first name,by the way, despite how awkward you feel about it. but don't worry, it will come more naturally over time, I assure you. It took Harry a while to become accustomed to it." She said leading the way up three steps to a couple of comfy chairs seated around a coffee table. Hermione took a seat, as Minerva pointed her wand at the tea set, which consequently began pouring tea into the china cups.

Sitting opposite Hermione, Minerva began the conversation, "It seems you're quite as famous as Harry in this school." She commented, "I thought I would send a Ravenclaw to meet you as they are slightly more reserved in their admiration." She smiled, as Hermione raised her eyebrows in slight disbelief,

"Oh, believe me," Minerva continued, "If I had sent a Gryffindor or a Hufflepuff you would have been signing autographs at the door."

Hermione laughed, and shook her head, "That seems so strange. I was always in the background, and I liked that – I was quite happy for Harry to get all the limelight."

"Well, now you are equally as famous as he is. You probably won't be aware since you left the magical world not long after the war ended, but there have been a great many books written about you, and what you three accomplished. And a few books written about you solely, all ending with the many theories surrounding your disappearance and wondering of your return."

Hermione shifted uncomfortably, she really didn't want to go into the reasons she had left once again. Thankfully Minerva seemed to read Hermione's perturbation, and stated, "I will not ask what prompted you to leave, I think I got to know you well enough over your six years here to take a well educated guess. And I won't ask why it took you ten years to return, for the same reason. But I am very glad you have returned, Hermione, very glad indeed. I very rarely have favourites out of the students, and usually never show that favouritism when it occurs. But you, my dear, were my exception; I came to think very highly of you. Much like Albus regarded Harry, so I regarded you." She explained causing Hermione to blush. "I missed you terribly, and for quite selfish reasons, I will admit." Minerva said with a laugh. "I had once hoped that you would return to Hogwarts once you had finished your education, and take up a teaching position.".

"I did once consider teaching," Hermione admitted, "But then the war took over our lives, and I didn't think I would make it through. And when the war ended, when Voldemort was gone, it wasn't completely over, there was a lot of work to be done, a lot of international relationships to repair, and I had a fleeting thought of joining the Ministry, perhaps take my chance in the Department of International Magical Cooperation. But then I left, and I now have my own business, any other career seems impossible now."

"You're only Thirty," Minerva reminded her, "You have many, many years ahead of you yet. A career change is certainly possible should you wish to choose it." Minerva said slyly.

"Is it indeed?" Hermione asked with a sly smile, knowing at what Minerva was hinting, but saying nothing. Knowing Hermione well, Minerva let the suggestion hang before voicing in directly, allowing Hermione to digest the possibility, and instead directed the conversation toward Hermione's business. Minerva questioned about the location, about how she got started. She asked about changes she made over the years, and why, and laughed at her ill attempt at disguising her pride of now having the best Hot Chocolates in England, courtesy of her recent business dealings with Honeydukes.

"And how did you explain the sudden difference in your product? And how they can't find it anywhere else?"

Hermione shrugged, "Easy, the truth." She stated causing Minerva's eyebrows to skyrocket.

"You can't be serious?" Minerva asked astounded, causing Hermione to giggle.

"Or course: I tell them I switched my provider, that I found this obscure little place in a village in Scotland, practically hidden away in the mountains, and only a handful of places sold their products, and that I didn't know anywhere else that sold them."

Minerva laughed, "Not quite the truth."

Hermione shrugged again, looking rather smug, "Not the entire truth I admit, but not one word of lie."

"And are you happy?" Minerva asked, "Has this career choice fulfilled you?" genuinely interested in her favourite Protégé's well-being.

Hermione pondered the question thoughtfully, "Yes," she answered finally, "Yes, it has made me happy. And the simplicity of the life I've been leading did fill me with some fulfilment I believe. But I won't deny that Harry's reappearance, and my subsequent return to the wizarding world, have made me think about the other options I gave up."

Minerva smiled, "Do you think you would consider a change of career? Perhaps not now, but in the near future?" she asked.

"I think it would depend on what I was offered. And when." Hermione stated truthfully, "After all, my business is my life, it's like a child to me. And as with a child, as it grows, and matures, you have to learn to step back. And bearing that in mind I have started to take a step back, I've come to a financial position now to employ more hands, and give myself more time off. Eventually I would like to manage from behind the scenes completely I think. But at the moment I'm finding it hard enough only working in the store three or four days a week, I don't know what to do with myself the rest of the time." Hermione laughed.

Minerva placed her tea back on the table and looked at Hermione seriously, "When Betsy first wrote me to tell me you had been found, I was thrilled. Firstly, I was thrilled that you were alive, and that you were safe, and not long after I began to think of ways that I might entice you into becoming a teacher here. You were the brightest witch of your age, and in fact we are yet to find a student who has yet to match your capabilities. I fear we won't see another student with your abilities until your own children attend the school." Minerva said with a smile. "That being said, you would be an excellent asset to our staff."

"Minerva, thank you. But I don't know if I could, I certainly couldn't move back into the castle full time, not with a business to run-"

Minerva held up her hand with a smile, "My dear, I perfectly understand. And I wouldn't expect you to, however I do still want you as part of the teaching staff, and I think I have a proposal for you that you will find acceptable, if you would care to hear it."

"Alright," Hermione said slowly, leaning back, "I'll listen."

"Throughout your schooling you excelled in every class: you didn't have a particular strength, nor a particular weakness. You were gifted at every subject, and that is extremely rare, but brilliant. I wonder if you would consider joining the staff as a personal tutor? If you remember back in your prefect days, one of your duties was to assist the younger students in your house with studying subjects they were struggling with and bringing them up to speed. As I remember you were rather talented at that. Eleanor Smethly, who is our current senior tutor, will be leaving us at the end of term, and I would like you to take her place. You only need to be here three full days a week, your schedule will be entirely your own. Tutoring is usually done during lunch hour, and from four pm until six pm but you may change that as you see fit. Generally when it comes to exam time, sessions tend to be longer, but it is entirely at your discretion when you chose to call it a night. With the OWL and NEWT students, as you will remember, they have enough free periods for you to schedule sessions with them during the school day."

Hermione sat in silence digesting the offer: at the beginning of the visit, Hermione had had suspicions that Minerva would be wanting to recruit her to the teaching staff at some point in the future, but she didn't dream she would be presented with an offer directly.

"Minerva, I don't know what to say-" she stammered.

"You don't have to say anything yet, I haven't advertised the post. Indeed, Eleanor only told me she would be leaving on Monday. I thought I would give you first refusal. Take your time, think about it, but if you could give me your decision before the end of term, that would be helpful."

Hermione smiled, "Thank you, Minerva. I would like to discuss this with Harry, or course. But I think I will have a decision long before Christmas. Perhaps in a couple of weeks."

Minerva smiled, "Excellent. Well, it is nearly 1pm, I should take my place in the Great Hall." She commented, "Would you like to stay for lunch?"

Hermione bit her lip, "I don't know if I should," she started nervously.

"Nonsense, my dear. It's been years since you've seen the place, Neville mentioned how you expressed a wish to see the place once again. Join us for dinner, we'll have a place added at the teacher's table, and this afternoon I will gladly take you around. We still have plenty to talk about I'm sure. We never once had a lull in conversation, all those years you spent having afternoon tea with me on weekends."

Hermione smiled fondly at the memories, "Alright, I have no other plans for this afternoon, how can I refuse."

That evening Hermione and Harry were curled up on the couch, and while Harry was looking over a file he needed to be familiarised with before the morning, he asked, "Hey, how was your morning with Minerva? I forgot to ask when I came home, sorry." He apologised.

"It's ok, you've had a busy day, so I'll forgive your thoughtlessness this time," she joked, "It was good, actually. Not as awkward as I thought it was going to be, it was just like old times."

Harry smiled, "See, I told you, you would enjoy yourself once you got there."

"I had fun," she admitted, "I even stayed for lunch, it was quite nice sitting at the teachers table, I might do it again sometime."

Harry laughed, "Inviting yourself to lunch now. Didn't take you long to feel at home again did it?" Harry joked.

"Actually, Minerva offered me a job." She told Harry, watching his reaction carefully.

Harry looked up from his papers, a grin on his face, "Seriously?"

Hermione nodded and Harry threw back his head with a laugh, "I knew she had a ulterior motive for inviting you to tea. Which department?"

"You're not surprised at the suddenness?" she asked.

"Not at all." Harry told her, "I'm surprised she waited until now, to be honest. I half expected her to send you an owl long before now, inviting you to join the teaching staff. So, tell me, what position?"

"She wants me to be a senior tutor." She said, to which Harry frowned, "What?" Hermione asked.

"I would have thought she wanted you take a full time subject." Harry shrugged, "You're definitely cut out for that."

"But that would have meant me moving permanently to the castle," Hermione explained, "Are you trying to get rid of me Harry Potter?" she asked jokingly.

"God no!" Harry exclaimed loudly, putting his arms round her and crushing her to him, "I never thought of it that way."

Hermione laughed, and kissed him, "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. I haven't accepted the job yet, and I wouldn't be starting until January f I accepted."

"Why haven't you given an answer?" Harry asked, loosening his grip so he could face Hermione as she spoke. "This sounds right up your alley,"

"I wanted to discuss it with you. It does sound like a great job, and I know I would enjoy it. And the hours are pretty flexible. I only need to be there three full days a week, a couple of mornings, some evenings, maybe a few weekends around exam time? But the hours I keep are entirely at my discretion." Hermione explained.

"You don't have to convince me with it's positives, Hermione," Harry smiled, "This decision is entirely yours, you sound like you're gearing up to ask my permission."

Hermione laughed, "Well, if I do accept, I was thinking this afternoon it could mean altering our living arrangements. And that would involve you, so while I know I don't need your permission to accept, I do need your approbation."

Harry smiled, and kissed Hermione's forehead, "Love, when will you learn that you don't need that either. You know full well you can do what you want to do and I will just follow along. It's always been that way. But if it makes you feel better, go ahead and explain: how will your career change affect our living arrangements?"

Hermione laughed, "Well, I would first need to hire another pair of hands to run this place, which isn't much of an issue, and the expense will be countered by the wages I would get from Hogwarts. But I would be apparating to and from Hogwarts, most likely, and if I did that from here – well, people would get worried that I never showed my face anymore, I think." Hermione laughed.

Harry grinned, "Is this you trying to ask if we can finally move down to Grimmauld Place?"

Hermione nodded, "A little bit, yes." She admitted "I realise it might be a little bit short notice, we'd have to move before Christmas I think."

"Hermione it's plenty of notice, but what about this place?" Harry asked.

"Keep it as a holiday home? It's obviously not going anywhere; I could rent it out I suppose. I haven't honestly thought about it in great detail."

"And would you still work here, those days you weren't at the school?" Harry asked with a sly smile, conscious that this discussion was going as if Hermione had already accepted.

"Of course," Hermione said, "I've already cut the time I spend in the store down to a few days a week. Once we hit January, I can be there a full day, once a week, pop in every now and then depending on my schedule at the school. I can take care of the paperwork at home, like I usually do, going over the books once a week."

Harry grinned, "It sounds like you've already made your decision." He pointed out, and Hermione grinned sheepishly,

"I guess I have."

###

As winter set in, Harry made the necessary arrangements with Kreacher to prepare his house for the return of it's master and Hermione, while Hermione hired and trained two more members of staff. Hermione accepted the job, which Minerva had generously offered, and began to withdraw herself from the day to day running of the coffee shop. She promoted Katie to manager, giving her greater responsibilities and relieving Hermione of some of her burden.

Harry and Hermione moved into Grimmauld Place early in December, and Katie moved into the flat above the store – when Hermione voiced her plans of moving out of the bay to a bigger property, Katie had asked if she could rent the apartment, as it was perfect for her needs and she was currently looking for a new place as her rental agreement was about to expire (once again, fate seemed to be in Hermione's favour.)

Christmas was particularly joyful to Hermione, perhaps the happiest Christmas she had ever had. Harry and Hermione entertained the entire Weasley clan in their home, including the spouses and children of various Weasley children, and Andromeda and Teddy were also part of the gathering. Christmas turned into a week long affair, with the guests arriving Christmas Eve, and not leaving until New Years day – but with so many spare rooms, and plenty of space, Harry and Hermione didn't want it any other way.

Hermione continued to drop into her business a couple of times a week, though very rarely needing to pitch in as her workforce were an incredible team, well managed, and business was not particularly busy due to it being winter. Through claiming that she and Harry had moved to a house on the outskirts of Whitby, she was able to apparate to a safe spot on the outskirts of the village and could make her way down to her store without raising awkward questions at the suddenness of her arrival.

With January came Hermione's start date, and though she was looking forward to entering into a new chapter of her working life, that first week of January brought with it a swell of nerves. But Hermione's first day went better than she could have dreamed; before the month was out she had created a schedule of tutorial sessions dedicated to each subject, to which any student could attend, which took place at the same time every week. She set up personal tuition appointments, and revision sessions, and by the end of the month was fully settled into a working routine. From Monday to Friday she was at the school, arriving at 8am taking breakfast in the Great Hall with the other staff members; on Mondays and Wednesdays she was only there until the end of lunch, the rest of the week she remained until 6pm, with the exception of the odd Friday when she extended her hours to 9pm if the students required more help than usual.

Monday and Wednesday afternoons she would spend at her store, catching up with the locals, and keeping up to date with the books and the paperwork. Saturday remained her only day off, which she would spend with some member of the Weasley family and Harry, and Sundays she and Harry spent at the bay running the store single-handed.

When winter faded away, and spring began to warm into summer, Hermione's workload at the school increased. Exams were fast approaching the students, and more of them were looking for extra revision help from the most intelligent witch since Rowena Ravenclaw, as a result Hermione extended her office hours, working until 6pm from Monday to Wednesday, and staying late every Thursday and Friday; she even ended up working Saturdays, ensuring all her students would go into their exams confident and prepared. As a result, she only spent Sundays at the bay for the entirety of May and the beginning of June, but once summer hit and the exams and school were over, Hermione had her weekdays to herself again, and was able to go back to working at the café, helping to manage the summer tourism rush, without the need to hire extra hands.

Before she knew it, summer was nearly over again; during the final week in August, Katie had taken time off to go on holiday and Hermione had moved back into her flat above the store, to takeover Katie's duties while she was away. Harry had moved back in with her likewise, and on their final night before Katie's return, and they're subsequent removal back to London, they spent the evening down on the beach, sitting up on the rocks watching the tide creep closer and closer.

The night was warm, the sky so perfectly clear that all the stars, and the thin crescent moon, were visible, giving light to the beach. Harry had conjured a blanket to sit on, on the rocks, and the pair sat close together, leaning back against the rock behind them, sharing a bottle of elf-made wine and a giant slap of honeydukes' special chocolate, that Harry had also brought along with them when he suggested a walk along the beach.

Hermione sighed in contentment as she leaned her head on Harry's shoulder, "Harry, this was a wonderful idea, thank you."

Harry shrugged slightly, and put his arm around her pulling her closer, "It was nothing really. But I know how much you love this place: you moved here for this reason," he indicated toward the open ocean with the hand still holding his half-full wine glass. "We've only been here a week, and we couldn't leave until we'd spent one night sat on the beach under the stars."

Hermione smiled, "It is my favourite place, you're right. And it was right here, a little over a year ago, that you asked me to move in with you." She said, remembering fondly.

"I remember," Harry smiled; putting down his glass he put his hand in his jacket pocket, "Though at the time, I was actually going to ask you something else, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought your rational brain would tell you it was too soon, so I decided to escape the embarrassment and change the question."

Hermione frowned and twisted round to look at Harry, "What were you going to ask me?"

Harry smiled, "I was going to ask you to marry me," He said simply, with a smile, and Hermione's eyes widened. He pulled his hand out of his pocket, saying as his did "But then didn't seem the right time, so I decided to wait until now."

Removing his hand that was still wrapped around Hermione, he opened the small box that was now in his right palm, displaying a platinum ring, the centre stone was diamond – not too large, but of a decent size, surrounded by a number of tiny rubies. The ring was stunningly beautiful, and Hermione gasped at the sight of it, raising a hand to her mouth in shock, she looked at it for barely a minute returning her eyes back to Harry's as he spoke:

"Hermione, will you marry me?"

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><p><em><strong>AN: I'm pretty sure we all know Hermione's answer, but just in case you're in any doubt, I'll be posting the epilogue in about an hours time.**_

_**I hope you enjoyed the last, full length chapter, let me know what you thought, and thank you, once again, for taking the time to read**_

_**xBx**_


	22. Epilogue

**_A/N: As promised, a double update, here is the final installment. It's only short, just to finish it off, but I hope you enjoy just the same_  
><strong>

**_xBx_**

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><p><strong>~ Epilogue: Five Years Later ~<strong>

Harry and Hermione married the summer after Harry had proposed, in the Weasley's orchard. Molly and Arthur were delighted to host another wedding, despite the early protestations of Hermione claiming it would be too much hassle to inflict upon them. Molly calmed these anxieties immediately, letting Hermione know in no uncertain terms that she was as much a daughter to her as Ginny was, and as such she was entitled a big Weasley wedding, and furthermore, Molly had been planning their wedding long before they had even got engaged, and to deprive her of bringing her long thought of plans to fruition would be just plain cruel.

Hermione was simply glowing on her wedding day, partly because she was finally getting her happy ending with the love of her life and her soul mate, and partly because of the secret she shared with Harry, a secret that made his heart glow, and his eyes shine. Approximately six weeks before the wedding, Hermione had found out she was pregnant, but she swore Harry to secrecy, not wanting to tell anyone until after the wedding. Seven months after the wedding, Hermione gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, who was christened Lillian Rose Potter.

Hermione continued to work at the school as a senior tutor; Minerva had frequently asked if she would like to take up a regular teaching post, taking over a subject of her choice, but Hermione always refused – just like her second year, when deciding on her third year options, Hermione still could not choose between the subjects, and as taking over every subject wasn't an option, she continued to tutor the students who needed the extra help. At least this way she could get involved with every subject Hogwarts offered, without having to resort to a time-turner. Hermione finally did what she had sugessted with concern to her business, no longer working there on a regular basis, she contented to run things behind the scenes, leaving katie in a full managerial position to deal with hirings and firings, banking and the basic paperwork.

Hermione was as happy as she could be, living in Grimmauld Place, bearing the name of Potter, and watching her beautiful daughter grow, Lilly had Harry's startling green eyes, and her hair was as black as his, but fell around her face in a mass of curls she had obviously inherrited from her mother. In the eyes of everyone who saw her she was deemed beautiful, and her parents thought her simply perfect.

Harry came home early one cold Friday afternoon in February, five years after their wedding, to find Hermione, Lilly and George in the dining room. Hermione had taken the day off work and was assisting Kreacher with some last minute adjustments to a bright birthday cake in the centre of the large dining table, which was laden with an assortment of party food typical of child's birthday.

Lilly was in the corner of the room, with George, and as Harry watched from the doorway it was hard to decide who was having more fun with the magical balloon animals. He stood for a moment enjoying the happy family scene, then said with a smirk, "I thought it was Lily's birthday, not yours George."

Hermione turned at the sound of Harry's voice, a smile erupting on her face, she was by his side instantly, kissing him quickly on the lips, she said, "I'm so glad you managed to come home early. Everyone will be arriving in an hour, and the decorations still need finishing. And I have something to tell you," she said quietly, her smile widening.

Harry's smile widened in return, "What a coincidence, because I have something to tell you too."

Lilly had finally managed to free herself from the scampering balloon animals and came running from the other side of the room, "Daddy! Daddy!" she called, jumping up into his waiting arms, stopping Harry from continuing his sentence, "Come and see the animals Uncle George made."

Hermione shook her head indulgently, "It seems Uncle George has been having too much fun taking our daughter on a balloon animal safari to help with the rest of the decorations, like he said he was."

Harry walked over the corner where George was sitting, surrounded by a remarkable collection of hippos, rhinos, giraffes, lions and tigers, and other animals one expected to find in the African wilderness, all grazing or hunting, or lying as they would in the wild – it really was a work of art. George had the decency to look a little ashamed of consequently being no help to Hermione, but defended himself all the same:

"What can I say? I got creative and a little bit too involved with the balloons. But honestly, 'Mione, once I levitate these things into the air, it's going to be like a balloon safari park in your own dining room, you won't need any other decorations." He promised.

To prove his point he promptly levitated the balloons, and set them roaming an appropriate height above the table.

"You've got admit, love, they're pretty impressive." Conceded Harry, letting Lilly back down, to continue playing with her favourite uncle.

Hermione looked above her and watched the animals for a minute or two, then smiled. "Alright, I'll let you off, George. You've kept Lilly entertained for hours, and they really are a work of art."

"Why thank you." George accepted the praise, with a bow, then standing strait, he became serious, "I think I may have found a new product here. They we're pretty easy to make, once I got the hang of it, and a simple colour change charm gets the desired effect so you can tell a tiger from a zebra. A few modified animation charms to get the right movements and sounds, and voila! You have your very own balloon zoo. It's a definite money-spinner, balloons work for kids of all ages." George nodded thoughtfully, and Hermione grinned,

"I hope Lilly will be getting royalties for every pack you sell, these were after all her balloons, and she chose the animals. you could say this was entirely her own idea" She suggested with a grin.

George knew she was joking, but answered seriously all the same, and shrugged, "Don't see why not. You're right Hermione, I wouldn't have even thought of the idea if Lilly hadn't told me what to do for her."

Harry laughed, "She was only kidding mate, these are entirely your own creation."

George smiled, and picked Lilly up so that she might reach the giraffe floating near his head, which she had been desperately trying to jump up to and reach. Chuckling at the excited giggle Lilly expelled as she finally grabbed her prize, he turned to Harry and Hermione, "I know you were only joking, 'Mione, but I was serious. My kids will inherit the stores one day, but I want my Goddaughter to have something out of it as well, she will have her very own product 'Lilly Rose's Balloon Safari' and everyone that sells, the money is hers. To add to her trust fund, call it a birthday present." George smiled.

"Thank you George," Hermione smiled kissing him on the cheek, "You're the best Godfather in the world."

An hour later, and Lilly's party was in full swing, all the Weasleys, and their offshoots, were in attendance: George had finally married Angelina after many years of dating, and Angelina was now heavily pregnant with their first child. Ginny and Rob were one of the first to arrive, Isabella anxious to play with Lilly as mummy didn't play as much now since the recent arrival of the new addition to the family, and Declan was getting too old to play with little girls. Bill and Fleur arrived a little later, once they had both returned from work, the youngest of their brood were not yet old enough to attend Hogwarts with their sister, and had arrived with Molly after spending the day at the Burrow. Arthur followed not long after, coming strait from the ministry, and a steady stream of Harry's colleagues and their families followed after that.

By 6 O'clock, the Potters' house was full, the children seated around the large dining table filling up on sweets, chips and chocolate, the fruit platters Hermione had insisted upon lay forgotten by the children, and only touched by the odd adult after they had passed the more desirable morsels to their children.

The sideboard at the back of the room had been covered with platters of food for the adults who were attending, and trays of Champagne, wine and spirits floated around the room at adult height, well out of reach of the children, and the adults were as well entertained as the children, with the food, drink, and balloon safari.

Harry and Hermione stood a little apart from everyone else, after doing the initial rounds of the room, surveying their daughter's party, each with a contented smile. Harry wrapped his arm around his wife's waist, summoned a pair of full champagne glasses, and handing one to Hermione whispered, "I was going to wait until after the party to tell you, but I can't keep it in any longer."

Hermione turned in Harry's arms, a smile on her lips, a question in her eyes, "Tell me what?" she asked, taking the glass but not taking a drink.

"Old Luther is retiring," he whispered, "And he's asked me to step up to his place when he goes. I'm going to be head Auror."

"Harry, that's fantastic!" Hermione beamed, though still keeping her voice down, not wanting to draw attention to them just yet.

"I know, it's great, I didn't expect it, not yet. I mean I hoped, in a few years maybe…" Harry trailed off trying to not look too pleased with himself. Hermione beamed even more and kissed him on the cheek.

"You still think too little of yourself." She said indulgently, then raised her glass, "To the new head Auror."

Harry grinned, chinked his glass with hers and took a sip, when he noticed Hermione didn't drink he asked, "Are you not going to take a drink?"

Hermione's smile widened, and she shook her head, "No, no I'm not."

Harry's brows furrowed in question and she continued, "Now for my news. I hope this promotion comes with a raise, as we're going to have another mouth to feed." She said quietly her grin widening with every word.

Harry's eyebrows raised, and genuine delight and slight shock graced his features, he glanced at her stomach quickly, "You mean…"

Hermione nodded, "I took a test this morning. Lilly is finally going to get the little brother she wants."

Harry pulled Hermione into a hug, whispering in her ear, "Hermione this is fantastic," then pulling back, he looked into her face frowning, "Isn't it too early to tell if it's a boy?"

Hermione shrugged, "Remember how, with Lilly, I was just convinced I was having a girl from the beginning. This doesn't feel the same, I feel like it's a boy." She grinned.

Harry grinned again and pulled her back into his embrace, "Never in a million years did I expect to be this Happy. But you have made me the happiest man in the world, Hermione, truly you have." He whispered into her hair, Hermione could hear the emotion in his words, and knew his eyes would be tearing up. "Thank you, for coming back to me."

She smiled into his neck, as happy tears came to her eyes likewise, "No, thank you, Harry, thank you for finding me and bringing me home."

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: And so, it ends. It's taken just under a year, but I finally finished. I would like to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to read, thank you to those who read from the first posting, who stuck with me and waited out the long times between updates. Thank you to everyone who joined at all stages of the process, thank you to all for sticking with it right to the end. **_

_**It has been a joy to write, to let the piece develop, and it is you guys who have made it a joy, I've loved to hear your reviews, I've loved to know your thoughts, and I thank you for the constructive criticism which has helped me progress. And a big thank you to those who have pointed out the glaring mistakes I have sometimes made, and had to edit.**_

**_I hope you liked how it ended, and forgive the shortness of the chapter. But this was after all, only an epilogue, a quick summing up of Hermione's happy ending - simply a detailed 'and they all lived happily ever after'._**

**_I will be going back to the beginning, re-reading the entire thing and possibly making some minor changes, but it will be entirely gramatical, there will be nothing new to the plot in future updates._**

**_And now I will say goodbye for the last time *wipes away a tear*_**

**_If you liked this story, please check out my other fics. Over and out._**

**_xBx_**


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